Frequent Miler released the leaderboard for week 1 of #milemadness to mixed reviews. Many of the comments seemed disappointed that the secrets were not included in the post, so I thought to go into that here. Opinions expressed here are mine alone, and do not represent other players or those of Frequent Miler. I’ll start out with a Venn Diagram to help us understand the three types of people we are trying to balance when we deal with things like manufactured spending within a tournament like this:
The way I see it, there are actually two main groups of people, those on the left that become those on the right but need a little guidance, and then those in the middle that expect the information to be handed to them simply in return for reading, ideally with big red arrows.
In the middle of that Venn diagram are the spoon-fed ‘have’s and have nots’.
Everybody in that middle section wants spoon-feeding, they are like two sides of the same coin. However, once they have got that information, they don’t want people to share. The reason behind this demand for secrecy is because they haven’t taken the time to innovate and truly understand the concepts, they have instead gone from no knowledge of how to ‘play this game’ to some knowledge, and if that is taken away from them they don’t know what to do.
It is one of my biggest gripes as a blogger, I announce something ‘big’ and EVERYONE is excited about it, until it turns out that is something they thought only them and a few secret squirrel buddies know about, and then I am the devil himself. The entire attitude in this section of people is wrong. In my opinion nobody owns a trick, so keeping it secret is wrong.
So why aren’t we totally transparent?
The reason why tricks are not being spoon-fed with gigantic red arrows is not because of the fear they will explode, it is because these are secrets that were either given to the blogger in confidence by a friend, or ones that they developed themselves and have not shared anywhere. It is a matter of trust, and relationships.
The Entitlement mindset is something that I think we need to stamp out, you are not entitled to be told everything, nor to keep everything if we want to share it, get over it. I know that pisses off the middle section of my readership, but it is time you got over it.
Now, hopefully if I haven’t estranged everybody, I would like to say I want to help the guys on the left of my Venn, those who really want to learn about Manufactured Spending, it takes time, effort, and trust. I would also like to help those in the middle get over themselves and shift everyone over to the right, but that is about as likely as me getting Gay Marriage approved in Texas.
How you could learn from #milemadness
To address how you can learn, I’ll share how I would approach it as a reader. I would consider what I do currently in terms of earning, and take a look at the leader board. Am I far ahead of these guys, or is this completely different from what I expected?
Milesabound
Earnings to date: $1383.90
Artistry: 1
Efficacy: 0
Bengali Miles Guru
Earnings to date: $1276.74
Artistry: 1
Efficacy: 2
The Miles Professor
Earnings to date: $1158.92
Artistry: 0
Efficacy: 1
Bighabitat
Earnings to date: $1155.90
Artistry: 2
Efficacy: 0
Miles, Points, and Mai Tais
Earnings to date: $1096.30
Artistry: 1
Efficacy: 0
Giddy for Points
Earnings to date: $749.48
Artistry: 1
Efficacy: 1
Milenomics
Earnings to date: $456.07
Artistry: 1
Efficacy: 0
Free-quent-Flyer
Earnings to date: $249.52
Artistry: 1
Efficacy: 0
Quick City Visits
Earnings to date: $182.39
Artistry: 0
Efficacy: 1
Chasing the Points
Earnings to date: $32.85
Artistry: 0
Efficacy: 0
Clearly, if you are already generating more than $1K profit per week in Manufactured Spend you are already a heavy hitter in this space, and at this stage, you likely know of most of what is happening. Also, you likely are fairly experienced and comfortable with the associated dangers of this hobby, such as having your money tied up, this tournament isn’t really for you as a learning experience, but it could be fun to follow along and see how efficient and effective the players are.
If on the other hand you are small fry, having finally got on the horse and set up your first, or second, or heck, your fifth Amazon Payments account, and dabble with the Bluebird, you might have something to gain. And the key to knowledge is relationships.
I’m giving you The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs, not the golden egg
Did you know that there were two Golden Geese? The story of the Golden Goose, which ironically is what the ‘spoon-fed, slightly in the know’ crowd accused me of threatening with this tournament, is actually a different story. For those of you who aren’t familiar with these stories, here they are: The Golden Goose, and The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg something of an interesting digression. Anyways, the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg, oft incorrectly referred to as The Golden Goose was actually quite a normal looking goose, other than that it popped Golden Eggs out of its arse end, which is quite the treat.
That it was such a normal looking Goose confounded the owners of this bird, and that it laid a single golden egg each day they used deductive reasoning skills to determine that there must be a giant store of gold in its belly, they cut it open, killed the Goose, and got no more eggs.
The analogy, in case it is missed, is that the eggs are the tricks, the secrets. The goose is the person who can create new ones, understands the true dynamics of arbitrage, value and risk. The eggy tricks will all end, one by one, but the Goose will go on for ever, constantly evolving and bringing new ideas to the table. What this tournament is doing is showing that things ‘can be done‘ it is showing ‘how much can be done with restrictive rulesets‘ and it is showing ‘who is doing it‘. From those three things, you can build relationships.
I’m no fan of the secrets crowd
I know that some may be disappointed by my approach to the tournament, and I too find having to dig through secrets and codes and rude people a real turn off. It’s not something I want to create here. What I want to foster is a healthy approach to education that starts with principles, practices and knowledge that is shared to build a new level of innovators. Further to which, everyone involved in this has their own mind and can share as much or as little in any way they want, so more information may be forthcoming.
I have been speaking with several people recently who have given me pause for thought about sharing ideas, especially powerful ones, since I am clearly seeing a trend in thinking that if something is attractive enough (which means enough people are excited by it) then all risk management goes out of the window in the desire to not be left out on the deal. So we have something of a responsibility to ensure that people who play the Manufactured Spending game have the foundation of knowledge, bankroll and chutzpah to play without getting themselves, or others, into trouble.
The right amount of information
As I have mentioned, I am trying to find the right amount of information to share, without throwing goose eggs everywhere, and I think that this comes from relationships. I thought one way to start helping that information flow would be to look under the hood of what the players did last week in a series of interviews, focused on things like: why they picked the points currency that they did; how they use their industry knowledge to squeeze the best value from those points; how much they value their time in this process; what they consider risks, and what they think just isn’t worth the effort.
I’m going to start out with the player not shown on the list. The other players voted his method out based on the ruleset, but everyone of them thought it was pretty amazing, generating $1,000 in portal cash back alone, never mind the $35K of credit card spend that also earned points…coming soon.
In general, I agree with your statements. Now you have to be prepared to respond to the reactionaries about your position on gay marriage and abuse of geese. 😉 I’ll be interested in the lessons learned afterwards of what the contestants would never continue doing again or (less likely) what they will continue doing.
Hey Kim,
Yep, the epic story of the gays and the goose, I have no doubt I will offend many people here and elsewhere in my life, it is something of a gift I possess 🙂
I look forward to the future posts, as I’m always up for learning more. I like the knowledge and know how, even if I don’t always follow up and do it. Currently, I’m a low hitter, but still pull in about $100 a month churning. Mostly due to a current lack of time (job related) and being fairly risk averse.
Glad to hear it Dave, and $100 is certainly no joke to many budgets.
Nice post, I love the flow chart!
I thought of you when I made it, as you might be able to see!
lol I love the “Stop Reading, head to the airport and fly to the Maldives” and immediately thought of @milesabound
Your post is right on point. For me, the key a-hah concepts: 1) net 1% return equals 10 dollars per thousand, 2) manufactured spend does not (for the most part) result in taxable income, 3) this game is aided by access to lots of disposable cash. Through that lens, I was able to much more quickly pick up on the value of different techniques and instruments, and how they fit together with my comfort level and ability to invest time. Ps. I would find #milemadness more useful if expressed in terms of $ per hour. I’ve sold on ebay and amazon. Not a piece of cake money or time wise. And technically…I believe the profits from online sales are taxable. Thanks for addressing this topic.
Excellent! I am glad that you are building that correct foundation, and from there, the sky is the limit.
I am bringing T-Rate as Mr Milenomics calls it to my interviews, I think that wasn’t highlighted enough in the first week, and there are some players that do very little work to make a lot of profit.
Excellent post! The past couple of years, this hobby has been getting too much attention.This is one way to thin the crowd, but also not totally alienate new guys who could become the next you or frequent miler.
It is a fine line that I am trying to walk, I can never keep everyone happy, but hopefully this approach is the most positive that could be.
Why should those who work hard to explore and exploit these loopholes etc hand them over to people they don’t know, who will immediately flood the exploit and within a day it will be closed. I’d not tell anyone other than close friends either
Indeed. But I am also all about making friends, so perhaps people can share, and this can give readers a base of knowledge and a few pointers of where to go next… teach a guy to fish and all that.
Dupe – delete
If any of you visit Ann Arbor and you don’t let me know I will beat you up
BullyTBB
On a serious note, loved the graphs, very creative!
When I first heard of this I wasn’t too excited. I think you are doing a pretty balanced job countering both camps and, most importantly, educating readers.
I also loved Livvy’s comment!
On a final note, hey Free-quent Flyer, with that type of showing….I don’t know man, you need to step it up 🙂
Free the whales and the geese!
Oooh you used the word love in regard to this, I think that means I am entitled to a blog category upgrade on your list!
You wrote: “… one way to start helping that information flow would be to look under the hood of what the players did last week in a series of interviews, focused on things like: why they picked the points currency that they did; how they use their industry knowledge to squeeze the best value from those points; how much they value their time in this process; what they consider risks, and what they think just isn’t worth the effort.”
I like this idea. I have read some of the posts by the contestants detailing their exploits, but each summarizes their exploits differently and they do not necessarily address these specific questions. Most of the time I am using new cards to make a minimum spend, but as of today, all the spends for my most recent churn have been met. Our financial planner suggested we consider a mortgage refi, so while I could initiate my husband’s next churn, I am holding off for now. So rather than MSing to make a minimum spend, I want optimize the MS I do until the refi is complete . Learning how the contestants answered these questions for themselves will help me and others strategize.
Thanks for a good post and for the time you are putting into the contest administration.
Hey Elaine,
Be careful with MS and Refi – MSing can ding your score too. I’ll write about that today so others can become aware of it also.
Thanks for the warning. Just read the post on my phone after seeing your tweet. I will comment more fully when I have a real keyboard! I never really paid much attention to credit utilization since ours is always tiny but I also do very little MSing. I do appreciate this head’s up. Maybe my self-imposed MS limits were wise after all, although we really did not foresee any mortgage or refi. More on the other post later!
Congratulations on a post including both a Venn diagram AND a flowchart… if you had included a waterfall chart as well, this would have been a truly epic trifecta of a post!
(and you make totally valid points BTW, well done)
Thanks! My design skills need some work, but I’m slowly getting there…
Beautifully done, well-written, thoughtful blog entry… Thanks.
Can’t wait to read these interviews! Appreciate the candor as always!
Maybe what I need to do is find a few expert MSers, bankroll them 5K each and split the profits they create 50/50!
Looking forward to meeting everyone at the CLT DO!!