LZY MNY CLB Issue 002: How To Profit From Mystery

In today’s issue we’ll explore the following: how an ordinary (boring) business model became extraordinary, how I turned mystery into money with a few decks of cards, plus 3 new business ideas you can profit from. Let’s begin…

Today’s Story

Five minutes at Heathrow Airport last month taught me more about business than a decade of MBA classes ever could.

"Gate 27, now boarding," crackled the overhead speaker.

Around 100 people lined up, holding boarding passes marked with 'XXX' where a destination would normally be. No city codes. No flight times. Nothing. Even the gate screens were deliberately obscured.

The woman next to me was grinning like she'd won the lottery.

"Third time doing this," she said, flashing her mysterious boarding pass. "Last month I ended up sipping cocktails on a Zagreb rooftop. Month before that, I was taking a private tour of Prague Castle. Best money I spend each month."

Now although her enthusiasm kind of annoyed me so early in the morning, I was intrigued…

Turns out, this was Wizz Air's Mystery Flight program. Scandinavian Airlines first tested this idea in ‘50s but it was Wizz that perfected it for the Instagram generation.

The concept is simple: Buy a ticket, get on a plane, then fly to an unknown city. The destination would only be revealed two hours after takeoff, by which point there would be no turning back. For the price of a premium ticket, these travelers had handed over their weekend plans to an airline in exchange for a bit of mystery and a lot of fun.

It gets better: Wizz Air didn't just drop you somewhere random – they'd arranged exclusive experiences at each destination: rooftop parties, farm-to-table dinners, VIP tours of places hard to enter attractions etc.

As I headed to my own predictable flight to Paris (Gate 32, boarding pass B17, window seat as always), it hit me: Wizz Air wasn't selling anything new. Same planes. Same routes. Same stale peanuts. But while every other airline was competing on prices and legroom, they'd figured out how to charge a premium for regular flights – just by wrapping them in mystery.

Truth is, life has become painfully predictable. Open Instagram – dance trend. Open TikTok – same dance trend. Turn on Netflix – another lame remake. Even your "For You" page isn't for you anymore – it's for everyone else doing the exact same thing.

I’m by no means an expert, but If I learned anything from 20 years of magic, it’s this: humans crave mystery. It's in our DNA. So you might as well use it to your advantage.

How to Profit

Let’s take a look at 3 business ideas based off this concept of mystery

_{1. Mystery Dining Reimagined}

Forget basic secret restaurants. You gotta think bigger. Why not launch a dining experience where even the menu is a mystery? Each dish is described only through riddles or emotions: "Grandmother's secret that made the whole village jealous" or "A summer sunset in Tuscany." So how do we put this into practice?

• Partner with existing restaurants for mystery menu nights

• Create themed experiences (blind tastings, era-specific dinners)

• Add interactive elements (guests solve culinary riddles to unlock their next course, the bill comes as a special puzzle that offers a discount if solved)

• Scale up by hosting pop-ups in unexpected locations - go beyond just dinners and create mystery events around your city.

Pro tip: Begin by renting restaurant space during their off-hours. Their infrastructure, your concept, zero overhead.

_{2. Mystery Letters from the Past} 

Here's another banger, particularly if you’ve got a flair for creative writing (or prompt an AI good enough):

Create a subscription service delivering handcrafted letters from "history."

Each month, subscribers receive authentic-looking correspondence that seem to have been lost in time, and end up in your mailbox.

• Love letters from the 1800s

• Secret messages from WWII spies

• Mysterious treasure maps with real coordinates

• "Misdelivered" letters from parallel universes

The magic is in the details – aged paper, period-correct postmarks, even coffee stains with a story behind them. Each letter becomes part of a larger narrative that unfolds monthly.

_{3. Mystery Date Generator}

We can all agree that dating apps are boring, right? So be smart and get ahead of the curve with an app that creates mystery dates based on shared preferences and budgets. Check this:

• Couples set their parameters (adventure level, budget, travel radius)

• Pick a category (romantic, adventurous, luxury, creative)

• The app reveals the date only when both people meet

• Partner with local venues to create exclusive experiences

The business model is really simple:

• Basic app is free - one free mystery date included (to get them hooked)

• Premium users get access unlimited dates & exclusive venues

• Venues pay to be featured as "mystery destinations"

• Upsell special date packages and experiences

_{Bonus: want proof this works…?}

Back in 2013, I made a radical move. Left NYC, ditched my apartment, sold my cars, and trashed everything I owned.

Well, almost everything.

I gave the TV to my mom and kept just one more thing: my massive playing card collection. Hundreds of decks, all different.

That's when it hit me. Instead of selling these cards the usual way, why not add some mystery?

I listed them on my website as "mystery decks." The concept was simple: you pay, but you don't know which deck you're getting. Maybe it's a common deck, maybe it's a rare limited edition worth wayyy more than you paid.

Nobody in the playing card industry had done anything like this before. Now? Every card company does mystery decks. You're welcome…

The lesson here is dead simple: I took the most basic business imaginable - selling playing cards - and made it exciting by adding an element of mystery.

The Ace Segment

In our last issue, we discussed how Ace Victoria - the enigmatic figure who inspired LZY MNY CLB (and who may or may not have existed) - transformed ordinary train travel into a luxury empire by upgrading carriages and charging premium prices.

Despite this, by 1924, ticket sales were plateauing. The novelty was wearing off and competitors were copying his model. So Ace decided it was time to pivot…

Instead of selling premium tickets, he came up with ‘’Victoria’s Mystery Routes’’ - monthly train journeys where passengers knew nothing about the destination or what awaited them once they got there.

Each ticket came in a sealed envelope with a single instruction: ‘‘A gentleman’s attire must suit both chance and circumstance.’’

He would buy spots in local newspapers, and invent these cryptic telegrams: "Victoria's train spotted heading North. Passengers seen drinking champagne with Russian nobility?" or "Mystery train returns. Passengers refuse to reveal what happened in Monte Carlo."

These train rides quickly became a status symbol and the subsequent word-of-mouth was off the charts, basically creating FOMO before that was even a thing.

Victoria's most famous route became known as "The Midnight Express" - a 12-hour journey where passengers might find themselves at a masked ball in Paris, a private art auction in Brussels, or a royal poker game in Monaco. The catch? They never knew which until they arrived.

As he wrote in his newsletter: ‘‘People will pay double for luxury but they’ll pay triple for mystery.’’

The concept was so successful that when Agatha Christie heard about it in the early 1930’s, it inspired her to write a little story called "Murder on the Orient Express" - or so the rumor goes.

Until next time,

Alex 

Founder //LZY MNY CLB.