how chatGPT saved me $5300 💰

Hey Reader 👋🏻,

100 Days Doing Challenge (starts tomorrow!)

This is your last chance to be a part of my 100-Days Doing Challenge. If you have been contemplating joining, now is the time to take action!

Sign up here

Deadline: Today! 9/20/23 by 9:00 PM CST

By taking part in this challenge, not only will you work towards a personal goal, but you will also join a small community of like-minded individuals who will be there to support you every step of the way.

Here’s What You Can Expect:

• Daily Check-ins: Stay accountable with daily check-ins (only take 30 secs to complete the form)
• Supportive Community: Foster connections with fellow participants and exchange words of encouragement.
• Personal Growth: Witness personal growth as you steadily work towards achieving your goal, one day at a time.

Small Upgrades to improve your life:

A few months ago I took an espresso 101 class after having an espresso machine for 4+ years. Turns out I was doing everything wrong 😅. Since taking that two-hour class my espresso drinks are so much better!

(Here's a thread of things I learned in case you're curious ☕️)

It made me think, what other parts of my life could be improved with some dedicated focus? 🤔

Where was I losing time/energy or not getting the full value out of something because I didn’t make the time to learn it or use it to its full potential?

So as part of my 100 Days Doing I’m going to do a short video series of tiny little life optimizations I’ve added to my life. These are things that make my life better, or that help my ADHD brain stay on track.

From phone automation to NFC tags, to personal systems. If you’re interested in this you can follow me on TikTok, IG Reels & YouTube to see my daily videos (of course I’ll share some here in the newsletter).

One of these projects was our internet. I’ve been paying for 1 Gig Fiber internet yet my office space was only hitting speeds of 100 - 150 mbps as it was only hooked up with WiFi. I set a goal to hardwire it to improve my internet back there.

This entailed digging a shall trench through the yard and laying Cat 7 outdoor Ethernet cable underground. Thank goodness for YouTube videos to learn how to do it (and my patient wife for letting me dig up the grass 😳).

It worked like a charm:

How ChatGPT saved me $5300

I tweeted this 18 hours ago after getting done with a hearing on property taxes for our house in Austin and it's gotten over half a million views already:

The whole protest took me around 60 minutes to prep for. I love using chatGPT to help me deal with bureaucracy like this.

(It's why I successfully protested this year because before now the tool didn't exist and so I didn't do it.)

Now obviously this $271k result is kind of insane... however so was the valuation they sent me in the mail. Now if you're one of the people wondering why I would want my property to appraise for a lower value 🤔?

The property tax valuation has nothing to do with what you can list or sell your property for. It should be the current market value based on comparable properties sold in the area in the last year.

In the words of Charlie Munger, "Show me the incentives and I'll show you the results."

If you value properties at a higher value than market value. And property tax is based on a % of value. With an inflated valuation it means more revenue through property taxes. Local government want to have your property be valued as highly as possible!

If you want me to share more content about other ways I use ChatGPT for this and other creative projects just let me know!

Pic of the week:

Last week I caught up and grabbed lunch with Nathan Barry (founder of ConvertKit — the service I use for this newsletter you're reading). Nathan and I met over 10 years ago at an entrepreneur event in Portland (Pioneer Nation) when he was a designer and selling apps and eBooks online.

10 years later he's running a $40 million ARR company 🤯 .

I can't tell you how important getting to live events and joining online communities have been for my entrepreneurial journey. If you're not doing it I would highly recommend starting!

Meanwhile this is my (Not so) fresh face after 5 days white water rafting down the Salmon River. I'll share more about that trip in the next newsletter because it was incredible 😍.

Have a great rest of your week Reader,

Cathryn