Author: Lena Wang

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for Economics for Business (E4B). My position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer. At the request of my boss, I’ll still keep mostly quiet about the details of my employer for the time being.

Week 25: October 19, 2020 – October 23, 2020

I’m one week away from graduating the Praxis program and earning my graduation hoodie (instead of a cap and gown)! I hope to stay on with Mises and E4B, they have treated me so well.

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
My coworkers raised concerns about keeping our future workflows organized, especially with the article submissions from our contributors. So I asked my Praxis network about project management tools they use that made their lives easier.

One of my classmates suggested monday.com for its user friendly layout. I did a little more research on my own for similar tools that would be suitable for a small team like E4B and found Wrike. Wrike and monday.com have very similar features but Wrike has a learning curve and my team does not want to waste time learning a new software; they have more important things to do. Wrike is great for a team of five or less because they offer a free plan forever but if you need more features and have more team members it starts to get pricey.

Monday.com is easier to learn and cheaper but they don’t offer a freemium plan like Wrike. However, it’s more suitable for smaller teams and easily scalable, meaning it grows with your team. Wrike is better suited for medium to large teams.

We’ve also considered sticking with Trello, our current tool, but it has limited capabilities in terms of tracking people’s progress and following up with them. Trello is great for the bare basic needs and can work well for a tiny team like E4B but once your needs grow you will need to migrate to another project management tool.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
NASA’s spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx successfully landed on asteriod Bennu with a mission to collect asteroid rock samples. This is a big deal because it’s NASA’s first asteroid sampling spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is on a seven year mission to collect sample and send data back to it’s team on Earth.

Who knows what we might learn and discover with the asteroid samples. Perhaps we’ll find precious metals like we did with other asteroids.

OSIRIS-REx is an incredible feat of engineering and cooperation, just imagine what else humanity could accomplish if we weren’t fixated on politics, war, and other divisive and destructive ideologies.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I found a project management tool to solve our growing issue of organizing workflows and documents. Everyone agreed it needed to be addressed and that it’s a necessity we are willing to pay for.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m cataloging all the tools for entrepreneurs mentioned in the E4E podcast and organizing them into a spreadsheet.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
Changing your state of mind into a value creation machine makes you more valuable and that much harder to lay off or fire.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for Economics for Business (E4B). My position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer. At the request of my boss, I’ll still keep mostly quiet about the details of my employer for the time being.

Week 24: October 12, 2020 – October 16, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
If you’re new to social media marketing and paid marketing here are some tactics I learned on how to acquire new subscribers, website users, content writers, etc.

• Organic social – using free social media activity without paid ads
• Paid social – social media activity with paid ads
• Organic search engine optimization – using free methods via keywords in our content, making the search engine algorithm work with us
• Direct referral – word of mouth, reaching out to individuals

And here are a few tactics on how to save on advertising costs:

• A/B testing (experimentation) method – for example, run two types of ads, static photos and videos, and find which one generated more likes. Then, double down on the more successful result. On Facebook, video ads performs much better than static photo ads. Ever wonder why all these campaign ads are mostly all videos? Facebook prioritizes and promotes video over photos. I’ve even seen still images run as videos.
• Paid (industry specific) influencers – they can tell their followers to sign up on your platform or email list and it’s an efficient way to gain more users that way instead of paying for each like/follow or sign up.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
Two defunct satellites nearly collided into each other but thankfully didn’t. Recent near collisions of objects in orbit has raised concerns again for the growing space junk problem and raising more credibility of the Kessler syndrome – a theory hypothesizing that collisions of junk causes a cascade of more collisions.

Why should we care?

We depend on weather and GPS satellites which orbit Earth and it’s obvious what the consequences would be if they were damaged or destroyed by space junk. Recently, the ISS, International Space Station, had to be maneuvered out of the path of flying space debris that could’ve damaged the station. Thankfully the astronauts onboard were not in real danger.

In the future, when space travel is more affordable via competition, I predict that the junk hauling business will become indispensable and commercial trawler types of spaceships will find a lot of profit.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I finally completed the marketing plan and created a pitch deck for our bossman over at the Mises Institute, of whom are funding our E4B budget. The pitch deck is an in-depth look at our current and future plans, divided up into three phases.

The other half of the marketing team, my coworker, and our founder had a meeting to finalize the marketing plans and they gave their input on what our boss needed to know.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
Right now I’m shifting focus on organizing content contributions from our authors who are writing articles for us.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
Whenever I’m going through conflicts, internal or external, I talk with my closest friend who always hears me out and occasionally doles out tough love. It motivates me to improve my attitude and outlook on life and find solutions to my conflicts. Talking about mental distress actually does something and it’s not useless, I find it cathartic.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for Economics for Business (E4B). My position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer. At the request of my boss, I’ll still keep mostly quiet about the details of my employer for the time being.

Week 23: October 5, 2020 – October 9, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
Last week I was invited to help run the bookstore transactions at the Mises Supporters’ Summit and learned that we took Bitcoin as payment.

Here’s another really cool fact that all you Austrian economics nerds might find interesting; Murray Rothbard had a fear of flying, so much so that he, along with his wife for support, enrolled in exposure therapy to get over his aviophobia. From what I heard from Sandra Klein, Dr. Peter Klein’s wife, who relayed me this story, back in the 60s one could enroll in these classes that gradually exposed you to flying in a plane.

First, the therapist would have you pack up as if you’re traveling, then head down to the airport and wander around but not actually board a plane. Once you felt comfortable with step one, you were then instructed to board a plane this time and sit for a number of minutes or hours without actually taking off. Eventually you work your courage up to a real flight.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
I have another exciting update to share with you; I have three more weeks left into my Praxis apprenticeship which means I’m about to graduate from the program and receive the coveted graduation hoodie (instead of a cap and gown).

This means I will need to figure out what my next steps are and if my employer, Jeff Deist, will keep me on or if he has other plans for me.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I made some meaningful connections with the donors at the Supporters’ Summit last week and made them feel welcomed.

There was one donor, a sweet elderly lady, who really wanted to purchase a book but unfortunately the cash register was closed for the day and I didn’t have the login info. I didn’t want to turn her away since it would be rude but thankfully she had cash on her and paid that way. Even if she didn’t have cash I would’ve let her take the book and have her pay later.

Donors always come first, inventory can take a loss of one book.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
The marketing plan is coming along great and we’re almost ready to create a pitch for our boss to review. I’m also still looking for contributors to help E4B add content to our platform. We’re also looking for beta testers.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
Work hard, play hard. I always give myself the weekends to relax and reward myself with a trip somewhere in my city which will help prevent burnout.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for Economics for Business (E4B). My position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer. At the request of my boss, I’ll still keep mostly quiet about the details of my employer for the time being.

Week 22: September 28, 2020 – October 2, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
During my one-on-one meeting with my coworker, who is the other half of the marketing team, he said that our founder heeded my concerns about making our content plain English instead of academic-speak.

I had voiced my concerns multiple times during our team meetings about how our articles and other written content was too difficult to comprehend in one sitting. And that our priority should be – always keep your audience in mind.

Maybe it’s my lower reading comprehension that’s preventing me from understanding PhD papers but I’m certainly not trying to dumb down our content.

Our target audience will be business people. I always remind myself of people like my uncle who is a very successful businessman despite dropping out of 11th grade. People like him will be a part of our target audience and they’re looking for digestible and practical content to improve their business.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
There are only 2.5 million Bitcoins left to be mined. This means it’ll become more difficult to mine a Bitcoin which will make it more scarce and thus increase its value. Basic economics and supply and demand at work here.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
During my marketing meeting, I offered to create a presentation slide for our marketing plan and give a general overview of the things we accomplished and goals we plan to reach. This presentation slide will be presented to our boss over at the Mises Institute.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
In addition to the marketing plan presentation and the marketing plan itself, I’m still working on the contributor project which will be ongoing.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m planning on getting back into the gym next week.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for Economics for Business (E4B). My position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer. At the request of my boss, I’ll still keep mostly quiet about the details of my employer for the time being.

Week 21: September 21, 2020 – September 25, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
If you’re a social media marketer and don’t have a clue on what to post, I suggest organizing a social calendar. Consider investing in social media tools such as Sprout Social or the Preview app.

Assign each day of the week a theme such as:

• Motivational Mondays
• Tip Tuesdays
• Workday Wednesdays
• Thoughtful Thursdays
• Fun Fact Fridays
• Startup Sundays
• Spotlight Saturdays

This is a great way to set a formula and define your company’s branding. It’ll also make your day more efficient since it takes the guesswork out of figuring out what to post.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
Farmers in Thailand are employing 10,000 ducks to devour crop destroying pests such as golden apple snails and clear unwanted rice husks.

It’s cost effective and efficient for the farmer and health conscious for the earth and consumer – no pesticides are used and the ducks have another perk of flattening the rice plants so that it’s easier to plow the field.

Release the quacken.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I created a social media posting formula for E4B and I’m using my “theme” idea that I mentioned above. I presented this idea to the rest of team and they thought it was a great idea – it turns out I’m the only one on the team that knows the ins and outs of social media and they really needed my help in figuring out Twitter and Instagram.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m working on the marketing plan, contributor onboarding, and preparing for our presentation that will be unveiled at the Mises Supporters Summit.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m keeping personal friendships and networking connections alive, starting with my friend and colleague, Daniel, who is working with the Blockchain Center in Miami.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for Economics for Business (E4B). My position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer. At the request of my boss, I’ll still keep mostly quiet about the details of my employer for the time being.

Week 20: September 14, 2020 – September 18, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
People want to be led and guided instead of being left to their own devices. They would rather have strict directions of what is expected of them, this is what I learned when interviewing contributors for E4B.

The desire for directions was a common response from the contributors and I think I can safely say this is a common view of the general population; people are afraid of freedom, which is actually just a form of personal responsibility, and are less likely to take full reign or ownership of their roles (perhaps out of fear of overstepping boundaries).

However, this response also signals to me that I need to also be assertive and take on a leadership role to provide specific writing formats for my contributors.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
I don’t know if I would call this “cool” but it’s certainly hilarious.

Hollywood, FL received a new sign welcoming visitors into their city but there was one big, hard to miss, problem. The sign was in the wrong city!

The sign was intended for Dania Beach, FL and now the two cities are debating who it belongs to. You can read more about this head-scratching mistake here.

Welcome to Florida, this is actually tame in comparison to Florida Man.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I interviewed the rest of my assigned contributors and then scheduled three more interviews with my personal contacts. All of these people will be contributors for E4B and if you’re interested in becoming one, please fill out this form. We’re looking for people who can create courses, write articles, create videos or graphics for social media, etc and relate it to a practical application of Austrian economics.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m currently working on the marketing plan which should be finished by end of next month, and I’m gathering content contributors before the Mises Supporters’ Summit so that we have something to show for when we present.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m listening to podcasts again like The Tom Woods Show and Lions of Liberty, and cleaning and organizing my living spaces everyday. Doing these things helps create a routine, of which is easy to lose when working remotely.

Weekly Monday Workshop:

What Praxis Monday session did you attend last week (ie. what was the topic & who was the guest)?
How to Build a Business Without a Degree with Mark Devin Bush

What was your favorite highlight from the session?
I really appreciated hearing Mark’s success story and how he started rock bottom, a classic rags-to-riches story.

What was your biggest takeaway from that session?
1. Believe in yourself
2. Help people and give back – the purpose of networking is to serve others and provide value for them.
3. Understand the art of following – great leaders learn followership, e.g. Jesus, show how hard you fight for your own people/employees, and show loyalty, trust, and faith in your employees.
4. Find problems and solve them – write instruction manuals and find out what each person does in their roles, and figure out which processes can be made efficiently by automating it.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for Economics for Business (E4B). My position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer. At the request of my boss, I’ll still keep mostly quiet about the details of my employer for the time being.

Week 19: September 7, 2020 – September 11, 2020

My friends, I have exciting news to tell you!

I’m (somewhat) officially announcing who I work for! If you read the description above in italics, yes, I’m now working for Economics for Business (E4B) which is a project of the Mises Institute.

E4B was founded last year and it’s headed by Hunter Hastings of the Economics for Entrepreneurs (E4E) podcast. Our goal is to implement Austrian economics in a practical manner via entrepreneurship and to educate everyday people on how to start and sustain a business.

I’ll still keep news of my employer on the down low because I haven’t exactly gotten explicit permission to do so. When I just got hired back in May, my boss wanted me to keep quiet because he was getting inundated by emails asking him for a remote job. In the meantime I won’t be announcing this anytime soon on Facebook or LinkedIn, which means you are one of few privy to this information.

I’m thrilled and grateful to be on the E4B team!

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
I learned how to set up audio equipment for podcasting purposes. My setup is basic and affordable, all of which can be found somewhere on Amazon:

• MLX 770 microphone with shock mount (this holds the mic in place) included
• pop filter to protect the sensitive mic from moisture damage and makes your recording sound more professional
• Tascam DR-40x audio interface and recorder. This is where your recording gets processed into a downloadable computer file that you can later edit.
• SD Memory card. The ones that you use for a DSLR camera can also be used for the audio interface.
• XLR cable to attach mic and audio interface
• USB AC adapter

For anyone interested in doing podcasting, I recommend an audio interface that can plug into your computer via USB. There are fancier audio interfaces that requires additional equipment but those are expensive and unnecessary if you’re just doing podcasting or Zoom calls.

However, if you’re recording music or need something for a high quality production like NPR then I recommend investing in higher end stuff.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
A friend introduced me to an episode of Teen Titans Go, a popular superhero cartoon. Normally this show is about fighting bad guys and saving the day, the usual storyline for superheroes. But in this episode they teach about the gold standard in a hilarious way that’s easy for kids to understand.

I did not expect them to be dropping red pills like this. Watch until the end for my favorite part.

Here’s another clip of Teen Titans explaining the gold standard in a nutshell.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
Last week I was interviewed the first group of contributors who will be writing articles for the non-profit I work for. I then uploaded my interview results to the shared spreadsheet.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m still working on an action plan to implement our marketing plan. Right now, I’m hashing out a social media strategy and the sort of things we should post per day.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m getting back into staying in tune with politics instead of ignoring it like I usually do because it’s divisive and unproductive. The only time I pay attention to politics is whenever there is big news like the elections and the riots.

I’m also making a new habit of talking about politics with friends who are knowledgable on the subject. This also helps me practice public speaking skills.

I need to stay updated for the podcast I’m currently featured on called Radio Rothbard. The first episode of the newly revamped Radio Rothbard was recorded live at the Mises Orlando event and I spoke on a panel with Jeff Deist, Tho Bishop, and Dr. Patrick Newman.

Click here to listen.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for a non-profit (my position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer). At the request of my boss, I’ll be keeping the details of my employer under wraps for the time being.

Week 18: August 31, 2020 – September 4, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
The first phase of a marketing plan, in the pre-launch stage, should focus on building rapport among future customers who completely agree with your philosophy 100%. You want the most loyal people in on the project such as employees and beta users.

Otherwise, you risk someone outside your loyalty circle sabotaging your business before it even gets off the ground. This is important and more relevant than ever especially in today’s political climate where cancel culture has run rampant.

Peter Thiel in his book, Zero to One explains:

“…startups should make their early staff as personally similar as possible. Startups have limited resources and small teams. They must work quickly and efficiently in order to survive, and that’s easier to do when everyone shares an understanding of the world.”

Zero to One by Peter Thiel page 106

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
Anthropologists and the rest of mainstream academia are in general consensus that the first human in North America arrived 13,000 years ago. However, independent archaeologists discovered evidence contrary to the established theory.

New evidence has set that date back to 30,000 years now. Two recent academic papers have been published, discussing the new evidence (you can find the links in the description box of the Youtube video shown below).

Why is this important and what does it mean for everyone else? For fifty years, independent archaeologists have been discussing this new evidence only to have their voices dismissed or even silenced by experts at mainstream institutions like universities and research institutes.

Mainstream academia is keeping us ignorant of the truth and this has unfortunately become the new normal. It makes me wonder what else are they hiding and why are they keeping the truth from us?

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I continued working on the marketing plan with my marketing coworker and brainstormed questions and ideas for the rest of our team to discuss. Here is a sample:

• social media management takes up a lot of time – coming up with good content to post consumes most of your time.
• should we hand-off this responsibility to a trusted beta user who isn’t an employee and give them posting privileges? Or should we ask beta users to submit their ideas to us and then we, the employees, post it (employees would be the only ones with posting privileges in this situation)?
• how many articles/content can our beta users submit before it’s considered unpaid work? At what point will they ask for compensation?
• what tools will we use to manage our social media?
• lets plan a social media posting calendar and research things like important relevant dates highlighted for things like important people’s birthday, historic events, holidays, “this day in history”
• come up with a motto and three main selling points of our services, something that defines our brand
• use our network influencers to spread the word and turn on the hype machine – lets get people excited for our product

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m currently working on the marketing plan and hashing out the execution details of our plan and brainstorming actionable next steps for my team to implement.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m taking the time to improve my health and asking friends who are gym rats (I say this with affection) for their suggested workout plans.