🚀 Welcome to Alternative Assets

Unique investment ideas worth exploring

Jan 10, 2021

Hey there,

I’m Stefan, the guy who bought MakerList last week.

I’d like to welcome you to Alternative Assets: A newsletter about alternatives to traditional investment & business ideas.

A bit about me

My name is Stefan von Imhof, and I’m the Head of Product at Flippa - the world’s largest marketplace for buying & selling online businesses. I also run Flippa’s Due Diligence Program, and have also bought & sold 10 websites & micro-businesses myself. I live and breathe this world.

Why did I buy MakerList?

I had been a reader of MakerList for some time, but noticed that Richard had stopped posting a few months ago. I thought his content was great, and so I reached out to him to see if I could help keep it going!

I felt that subscribers would be interested in the sort of content I was putting out there, and Richard agreed. There was a lot of syngery here. We negotiated a bit, and decided on an arrangement that worked for both of us.

Also, the orange color he used was already pretty close to my logo. So it was a no-brainer 😄

What are Alternative Assets?

There's a million blogs about venture capital, stocks, real estate. This is about the wide world of options that don't get talked about as much — with a focus on digital assets, websites and micro-businesses.

There’s a world of opportunity out there. Here are some examples:

💻 Digital properties. From websites and domains, to SaaS & mobile apps. Early days of a tremendously exciting space led by Flippa. The cornerstone of digital acquisition entrepreneurship.
📦 Ecommerce, Dropshipping and FBA businesses. Thrasio is doing some really interesting stuff here.
💸 Equity crowdfunding. What Birchal and Equitise are doing..
🤝 P2P lending alternatives. Plenti lets you invest in Australian “green energy loans.”
🖼️ Art & collectibles. Masterworks is leading the way here.
🖌️ Artists. Yep, you can even invest in artists themselves, through Cent.
🏎️ Classic cars. Rally Rd lets you trade shares in classic cars.
📚 Amazon KDP. Kindle Direct Publishing is about as passive as you can get. Lots of eyeballs on this space lately.
📣 Social accounts. Social accounts have standalone value, and are starting to catch the eye of savvy investors.
🏇 Racehorses. A fun side hobby with potentially big payouts.
🍷 Wine. With Vinovest, you’ll get access to a portfolio of fine wines.
🚜 Farmland. A big market. Invest by buying land, REITs, or new platforms like FarmTogether.
👕 Print on demand. Arguably the easiest dropshipping you can do.
🏫 ISAs. Income Share Agreements may be par for the course in Australia, but there are some investing opportunities in America.
🎬 Movie sets & music studios. An alternative use for extra space in your home or land.
💎 Rare earth minerals. Not just the domain of mining companies, surprisingly.
🚘 Parking lots. They’re boring and ugly. But they produce consistent returns.
🏬 Billboards. Same as above. This world is full of interesting opportunities that nobody ever thinks about.
📜 Patents. Many patents go unused. There’s a market in buying, selling, and (ugh) extorting these.
🌃 Towns. Yes, technically entire towns are for sale, if that’s your thing.
🍫 Vending machines. Surprisingly easy to own and operate.
🏡 Real Estate. I’ll cover alternative real estate investments, such as what Rhove, Roofstock, and Nico are doing, along with some REITs, and of course ADUs.
🌴 Islands. The market is fascinating - if not unattainable for most. Still, buying a private island is not as difficult as you might think.
🎹 Stock photography, music & sound libraries. There are investible markets for stock images & sound, and other ways to invest in music rights.
🗞️ Newsletters. Yup, they're assets too. Some interesting bundling and newsletter acquisition opportunities here.

What is NOT covered?

There’s a few themes I don’t cover:

❎ Stocks & bonds. Nothing against stocks, they’re just the obvious choice, and everyone is already talking about them. This newsletter is for the non-obvious stuff.
❎ Bitcoin. I think everyone should own bitcoin, but bitcoin is already covered in a million other places. And frankly, the blockchain just doesn’t interest me that much anymore.
❎ Venture capital. I’m not a VC and never will be. I mean, technically a lot of what I cover could be considered “ventures”, and they require some “capital.” But you know what I mean. If you want traditional VC content you’ve come to the wrong place, Jack.
❎ Gold. Ahh yes, the original alternative asset. And easily the most boring. Good thing there are dozens of others now. 😄

How often do you update?

Once per week.

That’s it for now.

I’ve got some great stuff coming your way. I hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely,
- Stefan

Disclaimer

The author is not a finance, legal or tax professional. He is a self taught investor, sharing information lessons learned. Expect articles to contain some inaccuracies. Always consult a professional before choosing a course of action.

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