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Mike Smith

Jersey City · Writing since 2013

I have an insatiable need to help people.

Entrepreneur, investor, and management consultant at EY. On a mission to help 1,000 business owners by the end of my career.

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Mike Smith, 2024

Role

Manager, EY Technology Consulting. Technology transformation for financial institutions.

Investing

Scrappy Capital, a seed fund focused on rising tech hubs.

Working on

Public speaking, and keeping the phone at arm’s length.

The count

200 of 1,000

The Now page →

Latest writing

All 105 articles →
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The mission

Help 1,000 business owners by the end of my career.

Two hundred and counting. If you run a business and something here is useful, tell me. That is how the count goes up.

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Articles

Consulting, quarterly reviews, book highlights and whatever else I have been thinking about. Thirteen years of it.

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All articles

General7 July 20268 min read

Manual of Me: The Operating Manual I Wish Every Team Had

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About

Welcome to my corner of the web.

I am a management consultant, entrepreneur and investor who enjoys the sport of business, reading, standup comedy, silent discos, fitness, volunteering, and playing tech support for my grandmother.

When I need a reset, I come back to the quotes and mantras I return to often. For more about what I am up to lately, see the Now page.

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Italy, 2026

Habits worth sharing

Inspired by Derek Sivers’ now movement, I publish the habits that seem worth passing on.

  • Every night before bed I fold an index card in half and make a plan for tomorrow. One half is a to-do list for myself, the other half is work.
  • Whenever something pops into my head that isn’t urgent, it goes on a phone note titled “to do later.” Sunday afternoons I triage and schedule the list for the week.
  • 10% of every paycheck goes to savings.
  • Once a year I take a solo vacation.
  • I generally back in to parking spots.

Bucket list

  • Get on Wheel of Fortune
  • Appear on Jeopardy
  • Attend an Olympic games
  • Run the one page fund
  • Join SU’s Board of Trustees
  • Join a corporate board as a director
  • Drive an RV coast to coast with friends
  • Drive an RV coast to coast with wife and kids
  • Be a digital nomad for more than a month
  • Spend an entire day on Quora
  • Create something viral
  • Attend Mardi Gras
  • See all three Triple Crown races

Last updated April 2026

Now

If you are curious what I have been up to, start here. Thanks to Derek Sivers and the now page movement for the idea. I also keep a short list of daily habits worth sharing, in the same spirit as this page.

Currently

  • Living in Jersey City and working in Hoboken and Manhattan.
  • Working within EY’s Technology Consulting group as a Manager, focused on technology transformation projects for financial institutions.
  • Wrapping a short-term Q1 engagement and looking around for the next thing.
  • Investing with Scrappy Capital, a seed fund focused on rising tech hubs.
  • Working on improving my public speaking and reducing phone screen time. Reading Don’t Say Um by Michael Chad Hoeppner and using the Jomo app to stay intentional about how I spend my time.

Recently

  • Wrote about testing Google’s NotebookLM, which turned a long article I had been putting off into a podcast, a mind map, and a presentation deck in just a few clicks.
  • Published a series on consulting life, including guides on what consultants do between projects and how staffing works at large firms.
  • Reviewed Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, a book that reshaped how I think about distraction, multitasking, and deep work.
  • Previously worked as a Management Consultant at Applico, helping traditional enterprises build or acquire platform businesses.
  • Served as a Volunteer Leader with Andrew Yang’s 2020 Presidential Campaign, helping build nationwide fundraising and Voter ID teams from a small group of headquarters volunteers.

Ten principles · Eleven mantras

Beliefs and strategies I frequently repeat

Some call them mantras, life lessons, invisible scripts, values, or scruples. No matter what you call them, I think it is valuable to have a list. Thanks to Michael Alexis for the inspiration.

Principles connect your values to your actions; they are beacons that guide your actions, and help you successfully deal with the laws of reality.

Ray Dalio

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Mantras

Quotes, aphorisms and sayings I find myself coming back to often, if not daily.

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54 entries · 2013–2026

Work log

Every engagement, side project, and volunteer role I have taken on, in the order it happened. Most of what I know came from the entries near the bottom.

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Open, unbuilt, yours if you want them

Ideas are everything. These are the ones I keep coming back to.

If you build one of these, or want to argue with me about it, get in touch.

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Contact

Say hello.

I read everything. If you run a business and something here was useful, I would like to hear about it. That is how the count toward 1,000 goes up.

mike@mikesmith.me