Welcome to White Hot Takes - a newsletter about investing, economy, sports, success and business by me! (Neil M White) My commitment to you is that none of White Hot Takes will ever be written by AI. Not ever. If you enjoy reading this, please send it to your friends, family and neighbours. That’s how we will grow!
This issue is filled with cool stuff I’ve been into in the last few months plus a special free offer for business owners (or if you’d like to be one). Read on…
INVESTING
HOW SPACEX ($SPCX) HAS CHANGED THE GAME
Satellites are cool, investing in them could be lucrative!
The Initial Public Offering of SpaceX earlier in the year really shook things up. It was the largest stock market launch of all time and at one stage, the company was worth $3 trillion dollars. But that wasn’t the most intriguing aspect of the stock market float.
It was also the first large IPO that had specifically targeted retail investors through platforms such as Robinhood, eToro and Trading212 where farm workers to Fortune 500 CEOs could invest in a democratised system. Did I buy some? Initially I wasn’t going to but then gave in. Who would bet against Elon Musk cracking space travel?
Market analysts have struggled to predict what SpaceX will actually be worth in the future. After all how do you put a value on:
Robots on the moon building stuff
AI data centres in space
Everyone using Starlink instead of old fashioned ‘cables’
All of this being integrated with xAI
Whatever happens, at least we can be sure it will be a wild ride. Strap into your space rocket!
SPORTS
WHERE IS THE PEAK IN ULTRA RUNNING?
Ultrarunning is becoming increasingly professionalised
OK so you probably don’t follow Ultra running as closely as I do. But there have been crazy things happening in the world of Ultra recently. A couple of weeks ago, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc was held in Chamonix in France (basically the Superbowl for Ultra runners).
What you probably don’t know is that this year, all of the top 10 men finished in under 20 hours (this would have been career making just a few years ago) - that’s over 170km (c105 miles) in under 20 hours. With 9,700m (c 30,000ft) of elevation. What we’re seeing is sports science and a new breed of athletes coming into the sport, taking lessons from high carb fuelling, lactate buffering and combining that into these superhuman feats and I am here for it.
But wait there’s more - the winner Ben Dhiman moved to France in 2021 with his pregnant wife and was denied the right to work by French authorities. So he started running, got picked up by ASICS and now he’s a UTMB champion. What a hero.
You can follow his journey more closely on his Substack. Oh and I’ll be running the Ochils Ultra in Scotland (a mere 50 miles) in a couple of weeks as I plan some bigger races next year. Stay tuned…
LISTENING
CAN A LOLLIPOP STOP A FIGHT?
A podcast I’ve been really into this year is ‘Modern Wisdom’ hosted by Chris Williamson, a fellow Brit (actually grew up in Stockton-on-Tees which is where my own father grew up) who now lives in Texas. His guests are a curious mix of psychologists, stand up comics, his friends, business leaders. He’s interviewed some big names, recently Hunter Biden and Joe Rogan. You can find out more here.
But what does that have to do with lollipops? Before he was one of the biggest podcasters in history, Chris was a promoter in nightclubs in places like Newcastle and Manchester. And he found a hack to reduce the number of fights at ‘kicking out time’ - where most fights take place: He started giving everyone a lollipop on the way out.
One of the reasons? Have you ever had a fight with someone when you’ve both been sucking on a lollipop. Plus you’re getting a sugar hit, the lollipop tastes nice and you have something to keep your fingers busy. Genius.
HUSTLE & BUSINESS
FREE WEBINAR OFFER
I've followed Codie Sanchez for a while, and (while often controversial) she's the rare person who actually tells you the truth about business ownership. She spoke a lot of home truths about hiring, firing and getting the best out of your team in the Modern Wisdom Podcast (see above!). Am I impressed? Yes. Slightly intimidated by her high energy? Maybe a little…
On September 18th she's giving away her whole playbook in a free live event, Own or Be Owned. How to take back control, build something that runs without you, and actually make money doing it.
Free to attend, live only, plus a million dollars in cash and prizes for people in the room. Sign up for free here. (Sponsored)
SHARE THE LOVE
If you’ve enjoyed reading this, let me know (you can reply to this email and I’ll read every reply) or want me to cover more of a specific topic, let me know too. I love and appreciate you all and will catch up for the next issue.
Neil