Back in 2019, Internet personality James Altucher ran a crowdfunding campaign to raise $100,000,000 to buy Greenland. He felt Greenland was too important not to be bought.
Altucher is a smart guy. He did his research to back up his claim.
His primary reason for wanting to buy Greenland?
Rare earth minerals, like yttrium, scandium, neodymium, which are used in modern-day technologies such as LED screens, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. Rare earth minerals today almost exclusively come via China, which puts the U.S. in an awkward and dangerously dependent position.
But don’t think of China, and don’t think of Greenland.
Because I read a story this morning in the Wall Street Journal, about how the U.S. is trying to feed its growing mineral hunger — by farming.
Apparently, certain plants are “hyperaccumulators,” and pull out lots of minerals from the ground.
The U.S. has millions of acres of barren, mineral-rich soil.
The minerals in this soil are not of high-enough concentration to deserve being refined by traditional means. But they can be farmed into plants, which can then be incinerated to produce a cost-effective new source of minerals.
If it all works out, farming might become a viable new source of rare minerals for the U.S. economy.
So don’t think of Greenland.
But do think how this story offers a simple, classic, and memorable example of what business and innovation are all about:
An abundant and cheap resource (land in this case)… a new or better process (hyperaccumulating plants)… and a rare and valuable end product (rare minerals).
Also, do think of how this might apply to you and your business.
Because what resource is more abundant and cheap than ideas, gossip, and news stories?
And yet, with a simple enough process, these cheap resources can be turned into rare and valuable end products — sales copy, or marketing content, or even highly priced courses, books, and training.
What is that simple enough process?
Daily emails, exactly like the one you’re reading now.
My email today happens to be based on today’s Daily Email Habit puzzle.
If you’d like to engage in your own “hyperaccumulation” process, and use daily emails to convert cheap and abundant resources into rare and valuable assets, then consider checking out Daily Email Habit today, before tomorrow’s puzzle appears and then disappears.
And whatever you do, don’t think of Greenland.
Here’s the link to take things into your own hands: