TL;DR
I played indoor soccer for the first time in a decade last week in Portland - scored five goals and surprised myself! My performance was improved by my new Sambas from the Adidas Employee Store. IYKYK
The last two weeks of US travel gave me the time to book my flights, trains, accommodations, and some activities for next month’s trip to Spain and Portugal - phew.
This is the last weekly edition I’ll send from the US for a while 👀
CURRENTLY
Documenting my journey
This week’s Reel (click to watch) reflects on a fun week out west.
The weather in Portland wasn’t conducive to much content or hiking, but it was certainly conducive to trying new restaurants, coffee shops, and playing games. Of all the food we tried, I think Ken’s Artisan Bakery (specifically the Monday night pizza) was the best!
It can be easy to feel unsteady or down when solo traveling, so I’ve been focusing really hard on keeping my mindset positive. This week’s video highlights my efforts there.
BUSINESS PULSE
Build in Motion
Build in Motion has passed 200 subscribers, with a 75%+ active open rate each week. It’s an honor to write this newsletter for you.
Long term, I’d love to partner with brands I trust to improve my newsletter. This month, I’ve already been sponsored by Whispr Flow and Morning Brew, two companies I actually use, and it’s so cool to generate revenue from this passion project!
If you want to support me with your clicks, you can check out this week’s Morning Brew ad at the bottom of this edition.
WHAT I’M LEARNING
Dashboarding
Claude can create websites from my phone? Makes sense, but I had only been using the more advanced features on my computer until this week’s bus ride to Milwaukee. It crafted a neat little dashboard for my March trip to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco while I lounged on the bus - here’s a preview:
Thanks, Claude, for the travel planning help!
Credit Card Conundrum
Not all credit cards make it easy to redeem your benefits. I don’t mind the research to get the most out of my AmEx, Chase, or Capital One cards and their rewards portals, but the new Bilt Palladium card I just got is seriously confusing me.
To be fair, I paid $495 when I got the card last month for the annual fee and have already received over $1,000 in Bilt Points and cash bonuses, which are easy to transfer or use.
However - the $600 of Bilt Cash I’ve accumulated seems nearly impossible to spend.
Best I figure, I can use $10 each month for a Lyft (no problem), $10 each month at Walgreens (okay, random), and $50 each month for a hotel stay (if it’s a 2 night minimum, annoying)… and that’s about it?
Hopefully they boost the power of Bilt Cash because right now it seems pretty bad…
WHAT I’M CONSUMING
Lots of good TV finales this week. On Sunday I watched the last episode of of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and it did not disappoint. On Wednesday, I watched the Beast Games Season 2 finale, and tonight I’ll watch The Traitors (US) Season 4 finale. No spoilers here.
Hard to pick a fav since they’re all so different and I don’t watch a lot of TV. That being said, these shows are fantastic.
The new Baby Keem album. I didn’t realize it had gotten up to five years since his last one, since I still listen to it monthly. Either way, it’s great to have some more melodic rap to listen to. One of my fav genres!
FINANCES
Money and Investing Updates
$2,026. That’s the cost of my accommodations for the month of March in Spain - shockingly close to my $1,995 rent payment for January this year. A fair price to pay to explore!
50%. That’s how much you can save at the Adidas Employee Store on brand new Sambas (and everything in the whole store) - Still not sure exactly why they do this, but I’m now 2 for 2 on acquiring new Sambas when in Portland…
The Sambas in question…
DESK OF THE WEEK
📍 A plane over Portland, Oregon
Had the whole row to myself. #blessed
WHAT’S NEXT?
Even though it rained every day (and I caught a cold) in Portland, Oregon (glowing review, I know), the food was fantastic, the mochas were hot, and time with my brother was lovely.
Right now, I’m at a founder’s retreat in Milwaukee, and soon I’ll fly to Spain on March 3. Next week’s newsletter will be sent from Madrid! 🇪🇸
Adventure is out there!
✌️ Matthew
SUPPORT
From time to time, I may enlist the help of sponsors to help me afford to continue writing this newsletter. And it’s pretty cool to get paid to share my story!
Anyways, this week’s edition is supported by one of my all-time favorite newsletters, The Morning Brew. In fact, their daily newsletter made me far more interested in news and business - I’ve been reading it for over seven years now.
You can check them out below, and find other (totally free) ways to support me via affiliate links here. Cheers!
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Not financial advice. Just a guy sharing his journey. Thanks for being here!