The Token Metrics Podcast

Would you pay for two hotel rooms and use only one? Of course, not! That would be silly. Well, that’s what you’re doing whenever you travel. You book a hotel room and pay for it, but also continue to pay your rent or mortgage although you’re not using that space. What annoys me the most about this problem is that the solution is rather simple and accessible to anyone. Instead of keeping your home empty while you travel, you could rent it on Airbnb and have your guest pay for your vacation. If you are lucky enough, you could even make a profit out of it. Just imagine returning from your holiday and seeing that your balance has grown instead of declining. Here’s what you need to know about how to rent your house on Airbnb. As a side note, I’ve already written an extensive guide on how to make money with Airbnb. So, if you want to dive deep into the subject, I recommend that you read this article here. In all honesty, renting your home on Airbnb requires a bit of work. You need to make sure that everything is in order, communicate with guests, and so on. But, the trouble is well worth it if it means that you can use the extra income to fund your vacations. I use this hack every time I travel outside of the country. I list my apartment on Airbnb and try to have it booked for most of the dates when I’m not home. That way, I’m basically traveling for free. Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

If your business requires you to travel a lot, it can be challenging to keep track of all your expenses. Not to mention, it can be a tiring and time-consuming process. Fortunately, in today’s highly connected world, there are numerous mobile apps you can use to log and keep track of all of your expenses. Expensify is one of my favorite ones. You can take care of virtually any business expense, mileage or billable time with this app. All you have to do is import your credit and debit cards, and any transactions on them will be logged and categorized automatically. You can also scan and input receipts, organize them, and create an expense report. Whether it’s traveling for business, donating to charity or incurring any business-related expense, just snap a picture of the receipt and add it to your tax deductible report. Then, when it’s time to file your taxes, all you have to do is pull your expenses by categories, and you’re ready to send your report to the IRS. It’s just as simple as that! Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

How would you like to take a fabulous trip to an exotic destination and have Uncle Sam pay the bill when you return home? No, it’s not an illegal scheme that will get you in trouble, but a clever hack that allows you to travel around the world for practically nothing. When it comes to traveling, entrepreneurs have the ability to mix business and pleasure. And, here’s the beauty of it: you don’t have to be the CEO of a fancy startup to benefit from tax deductions on your travel expenses. You can turn your blog or passion for photography into a business and write off expenses. For example, if you’ve set up a business for you travel blog, now you can go anywhere in the world and file all expenses on your taxes as a business expense. After all, you’re going there for business reasons – to create new content for your blog. If you’re new to the business world, complying with the tax code may feel like navigating a maze. But, it becomes less complicated once you know what you can write off and what not. For starters, you must ensure that the primary reason for your trip is for business. Otherwise, it would be hard to justify a 7-day trip to the Bahamas when you only have one day of meetings. A clever trick would be to count up the number of business and personal day on your trip. Keep in mind that the majority of days should be for business activities. For example, you could fly to the Bahamas on Thursday, have a meeting on Friday, stay and enjoy the weekend, meet with other clients on Monday and Tuesday, and fly back home one Wednesday. Another thing that you should keep in mind is that you can’t just fly to the Bahamas with a stack of business cards in your wallet and call it a business trip. According to the IRS, you need to have at least one business meeting scheduled before you leave. Otherwise, you won’t be able to write off your expenses. Which Expenses Are Deductible? Here are some of the business travel expenses you can write off your tax bill: Transportation Costs You can deduct 100% percent of your transportation costs, whether we’re talking about bus, car or air travel. Be careful, though: you need to choose the appropriate option to be able to deduct your taxes. While flying first class is admissible, you don’t get away with deducting a two-week cruise you took to arrive at a business meeting. Also, keep in mind that according to the IRS, your home is your regular place of business. So, if you work between Monday and Friday in New Hampshire and fly to South Carolina to be with your family during the weekend, you can’t deduct your travel expenses. Lodging You can claim your accommodation entirely. Don’t forget to ask for an itemized bill when you check out from your hotel. Some costs, like movie rentals or goods from the mini bar, might not be eligible for tax deduction. Meals You can deduct 50% of the cost of meals related to your business travel needs, tips and tax included. If you’re meeting with a client over dinner, you will have to document what business related topics you’ve discussed to pass the audit. Other Expenses Other costs that you can write off include conference fees, equipment rental, dry cleaning and laundry, shipping luggage, business calls, renting a location for a presentation, and registration fees. Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

It would be nice if credit card issuers offered rewards on a predictable schedule. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and you need to be diligent to ensure that you’re not missing on anything big. Don’t let this thought intimidate you; there are numerous ways you can keep track of the best deals and take advantage of them. Loyaltylobby.com, for example, is an excellent platform where you can find updated lists of promotions for numerous hotels, such as Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and so on. Using this method, I found out that Hilton has quarterly promotions that if you sign up for, you get 3x the number of points for each reservation. They also have a fantastic promotion that allows you to score extra points if you book a hotel room through their mobile app. You should also pay attention to marketing offers that you receive via direct mail or email marketing. Sometimes, companies target deals to a particular audience group and don’t advertise them publicly. If you come across an offer that interests you, jump on it. Most of these offers don’t last long, so you’ll have to act fast if you want to benefit from it. Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

Don’t assume that credit card issuers offer you miles and bonus points for nothing. Each card comes with a minimum spending requirement that you must achieve before you can enjoy the benefits. Most of them usually require you to spend between $3,000 and $5,000 in the span of three months. You also need to take into account the annual fees. Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, for instance, comes with a $450 annual fee that they charge immediately or on your first month’s bill. You need to make sure that you have the funds to pay it. Otherwise, you risk acquiring interest charges on your first bill, and that’s the last thing you want. Remember, the idea isn’t to spend extra money on scoring points but to hack the system and find ways to meet the spending requirements without incurring debt. That’s where manufactured spending can come in handy. Manufactured spending refers to the practice of purchasing cash equivalents, such as gift cards, money orders, and so on with rewards earning credit card. The goal is to earn miles or points for these purchases and then liquidate the funds and use them to pay the credit card. This strategy is usually used to meet minimum requirements or to achieve the flyer miles with a particular airline or hotel. Here are some of the most efficient manufactured spending methods: Pay Yourself with the Credit Card By far the best way to meet the minimum spending limit is to pay yourself with your credit card and then pay the card back. Here’s how it works: Use a platform like PayPal, Square or Venmo and email yourself an invoice to pay a bill. You can make the bill the entire amount of the minimum spending required or whatever you may need to hit the mark. Make sure to use a different email address instead of the one tied to your current account. Use your credit card to pay for the bill. After paying it, the money will go to your bank account, minus a 3% credit card transaction fee. Use the money from the bank account to pay for your credit card at the end of the month. By using this simple hack, you will pay just 3% of your minimum spending. In other words, a $5,000 minimum limit will only cost you $150. That’s a pretty great deal. For just $150 you can get a free roundtrip flight that would usually cost $1,000 or more. Use Your Credit Card to Pay for Big Purchases Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not advising you to start spending money just so that you can meet the minimum limit. However, if it so happens to need a new computer or a new fridge around the time you’ve signed-up for a new credit card, use it to pay for this expense. You can also use your credit card to pay for your friend’s and family’s purchases and ask them to pay you back. For example, if a friend of yours plans to buy a new sofa, ask them to let you put that purchase on your credit card. Then, instead of paying the store, they’ll send the money to your credit card. Or, if you go out to dinner with your friends, pay the bill with your credit card and ask them to reimburse you. That way, you can take care of the minimum spending for your card for the cost of a steak at a nice restaurant. Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

Live stream I did on my Instagram and Twitter/Periscope. I answer questions on ICOs I'm looking at for July. ICOs covered are District0x, Propy, CoinDash, True Flip, Tezos, EOS and many more. Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

I’m not bragging or anything, but airport lines are a thing of the past for me. And, so are the dreaded middle seats or waiting on hold when calling customer service. Instead, I enjoy complementary drinks and first name greetings whenever I travel. I’m not famous or anything, but I travel a lot, and that allows me to score hundreds of thousands of points and miles per year. Whenever I’m on a business trip or off to a conference in a different city across the country, I always take advantage of my airline and hotel loyalty programs. I have a company Amex credit card that I use to pay for business expenses. I then deduct all my travel costs from my taxes (I’ll talk more about this later.) That way, I’m able to earn free reward points without actually paying for anything. This strategy helped me achieve a loyalty status of Hilton Honors Diamond and American Airlines Platinum. As you can imagine, having an elite status comes with a lot of perks: front-of-the-line access, surprise treats, voyages to exotic destinations at the price of nothing, and complimentary upgrades, such as first-class or room upgrade. Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

I’ll be the first to admit it: reading about credit cards isn’t the most exciting way to spend an afternoon. But, learning how to leverage credit card rewards is one of the best and fastest ways to earn flights, accommodation, and other perks. The first step is to apply for new credit cards that offer travel points as incentives to new customers. Be strategic about it and choose cards that can help you achieve a specific travel goal. For example, if you’re low on Visa points, then you should research the bonuses on Visa reward cards. If I want to visit Paris, I’ll apply for a Delta Airlines because they have a partnership wth Air France and I can use the reward points to book a trip to France. In the past few months, I’ve applied for American Airlines AAdvantage card and received 50,000 air miles. That was enough to book a trip to Peru and climb Machu Picchu. I’ve also signed up for Hilton Airlines HHonors, and Marriott Hotels Rewards credit card and received 80,000 points. I can use them to stay between three to five nights at one of their hotels, depending on the city and country I’m visiting. These simple actions earned me 130,000 points that I can use to travel for free. Choose Credit Cards Carefully You can’t just apply for a new credit card, use the points, cancel it, and apply again. Most companies will require you to wait around 24 months before you can benefit from their sign-up reward again. That’s why you need to be careful about the credit cards you choose and ensure that the sign-up bonus allows you to get one step closer to one of your travel goals. I usually don’t sign up for more than three new credit cards every year. With this strategy, I can meet any minimum spending limit (I’ll talk about it in a second,) and avoid any potential issues that might occur. Issuers are less likely to approve you if they notice that you’ve applied for multiple credit cards lately. Chase, for example, won’t allow you to apply for a new credit card if you’ve opened more than five bank cards in the past 24 months. Be Smart with Spending In the movie “Up in the Air,” Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney,) is obsessed with reaching the ten million frequent flyer miles. Rayan pays close attention to what he buys and how he pays for it so that he never misses the chance to earn points. You should do the same. If a credit card gets you two, three, or five points per dollar spent, then it would be silly not to take advantage of it as much as possible. For example, American Express EveryDay Preferred gets you three points per dollar spent on groceries. Or, American Express Premier Reward Gold earns you three miles per dollar spent on flights. So, next time when you shop, whether it’s for airline tickets, hotel rooms or just grocery, pick the card that earns you the most points. After all, why would waste time to collect one point at a time when you can score three at once? Website: ianbalina.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan Facebook: www.facebook.com/diaryofamademan/

How to travel the world for free, or by paying as little as possible, without being cheap. I know what you’re thinking. Here’s another guy on the Internet making a shocking claim that has no possible application in real life. I understand your skepticism completely. I was just like you a few years back: dreaming about traveling the world but thinking that’s impossible unless you have a trust fund. After all, “travel” and “free” aren’t the kind of words you usually use in the same sentence. But, here’s the thing: it’s entirely possible to book a trip to an exotic location like Belize and pay practically nothing for it. Well, sure, you might spend a few dollars here and there to get a massage or buy a cocktail to that cute Balinese girl or boy, but other than that, most of the expenses (if not all) will be paid for in advance. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to places like Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Machu Picchu, and the Dominican Republic, and most of the times either my flight or hotel were for free. Sometimes even both. Don’t worry! You don’t have to be Rain Man to understand how to work with the existing rules set up by airlines, credit card companies, and hotels and use them to your advantage. Nor do you need access to an exclusive club that passes its secret knowledge from generation to generation. Although it sounds sexy and dangerous, travel hacking is relatively straightforward. So, how can you do it? I’ll tell you everything about it in this guide. So, make yourself comfortable, grab a pen and paper and start taking notes because you’ll want to remember these hacks. -------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------------------- 0:00 Hacking Travel Intro 2:47 Credit Card Rewards 6:23 Leverage Your Job if You Travel a Lot 10:03 Manufactured Spending 16:00 Seasonal Bonuses 18:43 Business Expenses 23:00 Tax Records for Business Expenses 25:06 Airbnb -------------------------------------------------------------- Website: http://ianbalina.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan

Motivational video to achieve greatness. "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." - William Shakespeare Website: http://ianbalina.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofamademan

ICOs can be easy money for startups. They’ve raised hundreds of millions of dollars over the past three years, so there’s no wonder that more and more companies are trying to leverage the power ICOs hold. As an investor, though, finding a successful ICO can be a bit challenging, especially if you are not very tech-savvy. That’s where this guide can come in handy. First things first, if you want to invest in ICOs, you need to monitor Initial Coin Offerings calendar lists that show current and upcoming ICOs. Some of the best platforms that make the process of finding ICO campaigns simple include: ICO Rating Ico Alert Smithandcrown TokenMarket These markets work similarly to Kickstarter or Indiegogo, where companies present their ideas to the public, hoping to get enough support to fund the development of their projects. Go to these websites and look through the list of active or upcoming ICOs. Some of the calendar sites, like ICO Ratings, even provide free detailed reports on ICOs, and whether they’re worth investing in. When you find something you’re interested in investing, go to the developer’s site and ensure they are a legitimate business. A good sign is if the developers link to their LinkedIn or Twitter accounts. Research their credentials and try to learn as much about their professional experience. Then, have a good look at their white paper and make sure it includes a description of the project, realistic goals, the costs, and a clear roadmap of how they plan to turn their idea into an actual product. Next, go to BitcoinTalk.org, find the ANN thread about the cryptocurrency you’re interested in, and gauge community opinion on the ICO. Pay careful attention to the questions that the developers themselves answered. Did they address all of the users’ concerns or gave vague answers? Moreover, you can search the name of the ICO you’re interested in along with keywords like “scam,” “con,” or “MLM.” If you see any posts mentioning those keywords, then that’s a potential red flag, and it would be better to keep searching. Once you’ve found an ICO campaign that you are confident is legit and think has enormous potential, send Bitcoins or Ether to the project’s Bitcoin or Ether address in exchange for tokens. Store these tokens in the ICO’s campaigns escrow wallet. After a week or month or so (it usually depends on the project,) the tokens get listed on cryptocurrency exchange markets, such as Bittrex and Poloniex and became available for buying and selling to the general public. You have a few options now: you can hold on to your cryptocurrency and hope it will further increase in value or you can sell it for Bitcoin or Ether and convert it to a fiat currency like dollars, euros or yen. Just like with any other investment, don’t put all of your eggs in just one basket and hope the cryptocurrency will skyrocket in a few months. Find about five ICOs that you think might have potential, do your research, and then narrow the list to the top three. That way, if one fails, you won’t lose all of your investment. I invest in numerous ICOs a month. I dedicate a part of my crypto portfolio to investing in ICOs. I started out putting in $100 in each ICO to first learn the ropes, and then after getting more comfortable, scaled it up to $500, and then $1,000 and so on. If there’s an ICO you like, but are hesitant to invest in it, or you don’t meet the ICO investment requirements, you can always just wait for the tokens to get listed on an exchange and buy them then. http://ianbalina.com/hacking-venture-... Website: http://ianbalina.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diaryofamad... Twitter: https://twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofa...

ICOs can make you a lot of money very quickly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are without flaw. Only two things are certain in life, and ICOs are not one of them. You can make a lot of money with ICOs, but you can also lose them fast if you are not careful. As with any investment, it’s difficult to predict the success of a startup with absolute certainty. Similar to crowdfunding campaigns, companies might not complete the project or trick you into investing in their business without any intention of ever launching it. That is not unusual for an entirely new, mostly unregulated field. However, there are a few measures you can take to assess the credibility of a product and avoid getting scammed. Avoid Anonymous Teams Be wary if the developers of the project are either anonymous or unknown to anyone in the community. Sure, there might be instances when the developers are just new to the concept, but if they are not willing to put their reputation on the line, then it’s best to keep your money in your pocket. Only Invest in ICOs with Escrow Wallets One of the ways legitimate companies have managed to regulate ICOs is through the use of escrow. Therefore, if the developers don’t have an escrow wallet for investments, then nothing can stop them from running away with your money. Be Skeptical of Lofty Goals Another red flag you need to pay attention to is the goal of the project. If the developers have set unrealistic goals, it usually means that they don’t know what they’re doing. Or, worse, they don’t care and are just looking for a way to make a quick buck by scamming people. Don’t Invest in Just White Papers Legitimate businesses often show the status of their project, keeping investors in the loop. If the developers don’t release any proof of progress, such as beta code snippets, behind the scene documents and videos or beta/MVP versions, then most likely they don’t have anything to show. ICOs investments, as with any investment, for what matters, aren’t risk-free. The fact that the government doesn’t regulate ICOs can add to the feeling of uncertainty. However, things have changed dramatically since the inception of ICOs. Nowadays, blockchain startups impose restrictions on themselves and can provide sufficient transparency to earn the trust of investors. As already mentioned, contributions are stored in escrow wallets, and developers need several keys, including some from trusted third parties, to access the money. Moreover, companies need to provide comprehensive documentation to back up their projects, such as defined goals, recommendations from independent experts, and so on, to prove the legitimacy of their campaigns. http://ianbalina.com/hacking-venture-... Website: http://ianbalina.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diaryofamad... Twitter: https://twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofa...

Investing in an ICO might seem like too much of a risk. But if you think about it for a second, you’ll realize that unlike traditional ventures, ICOs give you the possibility to invest in a disruptive business during the early stages. Going back to the Snapchat example, ICOs allow the average person who doesn’t have the minimum $25,000 to invest in Snapchat before it’s IPO, to invest in the next Snapchat Blockchain startup at pre-IPO type prices. Let’s take Ethereum as an example, the second biggest cryptocurrency regarding market cap, behind Bitcoin. Ethereum had an ICO three years ago, in 2014 and managed to raise $18 million on a pre-sale of their cryptocurrency token called Ether. They issued Ether in exchange for Bitcoin, valued at thirty cents ($0.30.) Although still new and experimental, users saw value in it, and the demand increased. That led to a hike in the price. Today, Ether trades at $160. Now, imagine you had taken a risk and bought $2,000 worth of Ether tokens in 2014 at thirty cents per Ether. Your $2,000 investment would now be worth $1 million after less than three years. Even if you didn’t have much money and only bought $10 worth of Ether, you would have gotten a pretty sizable return on your investment, and you would now have $3,000 in your pockets. You might think that this explosive growth only happened because at that point cryptocurrencies were something new and people were eager to test their profitability. Now that the blockchain network has stabilized, you can’t expect to see such spectacular returns on your investment. I beg to differ. Let’s take Stratis as an example, a blockchain company created to provide solutions for businesses in the financial sector that want to reap the benefits of blockchain technology. Stratis launched last year in 2016 and valued their cryptocurrency tokens, named STRAT, at $0.017 per token. At this moment, one STRAT is trading at $2.81. That’s a 164x (16,400%) return on your initial investment in less than one year. If you would have bought $100 worth of STRAT last year, you would now be $16,400+ richer than you were a year ago. Imagine if you would have taken a bigger risk and invested $5,000 in STRAT. Nowadays, your investment would be worth $820,000+ in less than one year. That’s the beauty of ICOs. Anyone, regardless of their income, country or education can become a millionaire, granted they do their homework and choose the ICO campaigns they want to invest into with great care. http://ianbalina.com/hacking-venture-... Website: http://ianbalina.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diaryofamad... Twitter: https://twitter.com/diaryofamademan Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/diaryofa...

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