Lazy Money Issue 22

Happy Sunday!

Today I'm burning down everything you think you know about having a job. Then I’m cashing in 1 million miles to fly around the world for free.

The Story

Sony once paid a man $120,000 a year to stare out a window. For fifteen years.

His official title? "Deputy Director of Strategic Planning." His actual job? Existing. Breathing. Occasionally watering the office plants.

He was part of Japan's "madogiwa-zoku" - literally the window-seat tribe.

Japanese companies promise lifetime employment, which sounds great until you have Tanaka-san, who’s been writing TPS reports since 1991 but now can’t figure out email. You can’t fire him, and he won't quit (the shame would kill his mother). 

So you promote him to "Senior Manager of Overhead Lighting Strategy" and stick him by a window.

Sony had an entire floor of these professional ghosts. Toshiba famously had a guy whose only responsibility was "monitoring elevator efficiency." He took the stairs.

But here's where it gets beautiful...

Some of these dummies realized they were sitting on gold. They had Sony business cards. Corporate email addresses. Titles that sounded important to anyone who didn't know better.

So they started consulting.

"Strategic Operations Director, Sony Corporation" looks pretty good on a LinkedIn message. Your startup hires him to optimize operations. You don't know his biggest decision each day was coffee or tea.

The scam was perfect. Their companies couldn't complain - officially, they were working on "strategic initiatives." The clients got advice from actual "Sony executives." Everyone won except the people who thought job titles meant something.

This got me thinking: If fake jobs create real opportunities, how else can we fake it until we make it?

How To Profit

• StatusCo – Employment as a Service

People pay gyms to get fit. They pay universities to get smart. Why not pay to be employed?

Create a company whose only business is employing people.

For $297/month, you're hired. Welcome to StatusCo, where your job is whatever you need it to be. Business Analyst, Marketing Manager, Operations Director - pick your title, we'll make it real. Corporate email, Slack access, LinkedIn verification, the works.

Even better, our AI bots will make you actually work. They'll assign projects, demand reports, schedule useless meetings, and critique your deliverables. You'll learn corporate speak, navigate office politics, and build a real portfolio. It's unemployment insurance that makes you employable.

After six months at StatusCo, you're genuinely qualified. You've got work samples, references (our AI managers write glowing reviews), and experience with actual corporate workflows. When employers call to verify, we confirm everything - because it's all true.

Perfect for gap years, career pivots, or anyone who needs to look employed while becoming employable. Price by job complexity: $297 for Analyst, $597 for Manager, $1,297 for Director.

• RentAColleague – The Human LinkedIn

Career coaches are useless. They've never done your specific job.

Build the platform where people book hourly calls with someone who has the exact job they want.

Junior consultant wants to break into McKinsey? $200/hour with someone grinding there right now. They'll tear apart your case studies and show you what actually matters. Product manager wannabe? $150 to get roasted by someone from Spotify who'll explain why your portfolio makes them cringe.

The platform works because everyone wins. Experts make more per hour explaining their job than actually doing it. Learners get actual useful advice, not generic "follow your passion" bullshit. Smart experts build recruiting pipelines (train 20 juniors, hire the best 3).

Take 20% of every transaction. Start with one vertical (tech or finance). Verify employment. Scale from there.

• BackStory - Turn your past into a powerful brand

Everyone's career looks like shit online because they were too busy working the past 10 years to post about it. Meanwhile, some 24-year-old who spent 6 months in Bali posting about "mindful productivity" just got their dream job.

Start a business that builds career stories retroactively.

Find clients whose LinkedIn looks abandoned. Study what successful people in their industry post about. Then create that entire digital presence for your client - ghostwritten articles, case studies, portfolio pieces. Package their real experience like they should have from day one.

Charge $3K to build them a complete professional narrative. They go from invisible employee to "thought leader" in 30 days.

Remember friend, everything is marketing now. You're selling the career story they should have had.

The Ace Toolkit

Ace always said, "The only difference between employment and unemployment is a good story and a business card."

Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber - The bible of meaningless work

The Presentation of Self by Goffman - We're all performing, might as well get paid

P.S. - The 6 Continent Hustle

Before I go... Turkish Airlines is basically paying people to travel right now.

Fly to all 6 continents by October 2025 and they’ll give you 1 million Star Alliance miles.
Do the math: spend ~$3,500 on flights, get around $7K worth of points. That’s a $3,500+ profit for seeing the world.

First person to book and send me proof? I’ll mail you a deck of cards. Let’s see who’s really about it.

Until next time,

Alex

Founder //LZY MNY CLB