Official Richart Ruddie Blog - Internet Entrepreneur

Canvas Rebel Richart Ruddie Feature

Thank you to the kind folks at Canvas Rebel for a feature about Richart Ruddie for the second time. You can read the feature and see photos from Newport, Rhode Island as well:
https://canvasrebel.com/meet-richart-ruddie-2/

If you ever need motivation look at who else was born the same year as you

A little motivating tactic to keep on pushing harder and harder to achieve my goals that I outline is to take a look at who else was born the same year as you who's had massive success in their career. I try not to focus on athletes as there is a genetic factor at play but rather other entrepreneurs and business people that I can compare what they've done and what I've done. Let that be the measuring stick till you catch up and pass your peers.

My 1985 Motivators to push harder:

Sam Altman, Brian Chesky, Evan Spiegel, and Whitney Wolfe Herd. 

If you have a year without enough motivators than you can go +- 1 year.  In that case I would be up against Mark Zuckerberg, Ben Silberman of Pinterest, and David Karp founder of Tumblr.

Income and Wealth Inequality in America: Understanding the Dichotomies

Income and wealth inequality in America have long been subjects of intense debate and scrutiny. The statistics reveal a stark contrast between different segments of the population which are absolutely contrary to what you hear the pundits say.

The top 10% of Americans hold 48% of the nation's income, 71% of its wealth, and pay 76% of the taxes. In contrast, the bottom 50% have only 10% of the income, 1.5% of the wealth, and often receive more in government benefits than they contribute in taxes. This disparity has significant implications for societal discontent and the pervasive sense of anger and division among citizens.

The Dichotomies of Wealth Distribution

To understand the roots of societal discontent, it is crucial to delve into the dichotomies of wealth distribution. The top 10% of Americans are significantly wealthier and bear a substantial portion of the tax burden. This group often includes high-income professionals, business owners, and investors who benefit from capital gains and other sources of wealth that are not as accessible to the average person. Their financial security allows for greater investments in education, healthcare, and other quality-of-life improvements, perpetuating their economic advantage.

Conversely, the bottom 50% of the population, who control a mere 1.5% of the nation's wealth, face a different reality. This group often struggles with job insecurity, lower wages, and limited access to essential services. The wealth gap is not merely a reflection of income differences but also of accumulated assets and opportunities. This inequality can lead to feelings of hopelessness and frustration, as upward mobility seems increasingly out of reach if you ever read the comments on Reddit or Twitter and listen to people attack the Elon Musks of the world for being successful.

Taxation and Perceived Fairness

Taxation is another critical aspect of this discussion. The wealthiest Americans pay a substantial portion of the taxes, which raises questions about the fairness and effectiveness of the tax system. Critics argue that the wealthy can leverage tax loopholes and benefits to minimize their tax burden, thus not contributing their fair share relative to their wealth. On the other hand, supporters of the current system point out that the wealthy already pay a disproportionately high percentage of taxes, suggesting that they are indeed contributing significantly to the nation's revenue.

For the bottom 50%, the tax system often provides more benefits than it extracts. Many in this group qualify for tax credits, subsidies, and other forms of government assistance designed to alleviate poverty and provide basic needs. While these benefits are essential for survival, they can also perpetuate dependency and a sense of disenfranchisement, as individuals feel they are not progressing economically despite the aid they receive.

The Emotional and Social Impact

The emotional and social impact of these economic disparities cannot be overstated. The perceived inequality and unfairness fuel discontent and anger, contributing to societal divisions. Those in the lower economic brackets may feel resentment towards the wealthy, whom they perceive as having an unfair advantage and living in a different reality. This resentment is exacerbated by visible displays of wealth and success, often highlighted in media and popular culture.

On the flip side, the wealthy may feel unjustly targeted and misunderstood. They might believe that their hard work and success are being unfairly criticized, leading to a defensive posture and further entrenchment of social divides. The lack of empathy and understanding between different economic groups fosters a cycle of blame and mistrust, hindering constructive dialogue and potential solutions.

Moving Towards a Solution

Addressing these dichotomies requires a multifaceted approach. Policy changes aimed at reducing income and wealth inequality, such as progressive taxation, increased access to education, and social safety nets, are essential. Additionally, fostering a culture of empathy and understanding can help bridge the divide between different economic groups. Encouraging dialogue and collaboration, rather than conflict and blame, can pave the way for a more equitable and harmonious society.

In conclusion, the discontent and anger prevalent in society are rooted in the stark economic dichotomies between the top 10% and the bottom 50% of Americans. Addressing these issues requires both policy interventions and a shift in societal attitudes towards empathy and cooperation. By working towards a more balanced and inclusive economy, society can begin to heal the divisions and move forward together.

Richart Ruddie Baltimore Born Art Collector Sun Piece

The Baltimore Sun piece showcasing the issues with the art collector community in Baltimore compared to the growing art collectors in New York and South Florida. The piece talks about the importance of public art displays and how it can convey a sense of identity. In Baltimore City when you go to an Orioles game you see the world famous Babe Ruth statue and there is a wrinkle with the sculpture though. Ruth who was born in Baltimore has his glove on his right hand but he was a lefty. Little art nuisances like this make for a memorable piece that stays in our heads.

I learned about this during an elementary school field trip and still talk about it today. One quote from the Baltimore Sun piece:

"In Baltimore, public art can convey a sense of identity, commemorating historical events or celebrating the diversity of its people. By witnessing such art, individuals should be inspired to become active participants in shaping their communities and advocating for positive change. Thus, art’s influence extends far beyond aesthetics; it stimulates our minds, stirs our emotions and encourages us to explore the depths of human experience. Ultimately, art leaves an indelible mark on our lives, serving as a testament to our creativity, resilience, and capacity to connect with one another across time and space yet the amount of known art collectors is still slim."

"Ruddie’s advice for future entrepreneurs who want to create their own “annuity” and lottery ticket is to focus on an idea that has merit, work hard and dedicate your life to it while ignoring the noise and distractions that won’t bring you peace and prosperity.

After COVID-19 ran rampant in Maryland, and as many high-net-worth residents and business owners became tired of cold weather, high taxes and state leadership, Ruddie migrated south to Florida. He believes a trend of traveling down Interstate 95 to places like South Carolina and Florida to work and come back to visit Maryland will become the norm.

Ruddie still maintains a home in Baltimore that has sentimental art from his grandmother. In his office just outside of the Maryland border, the art aficionado has a beautiful painting that hangs over his desk. People often look at it and wonder if it’s a painting or a photo. When you look at it up close and see the charcoal, it makes a lasting impact the way art should."

Baltimore does maintain one of the worlds best aquariums which has dolphins swimming around but there is no longer a dolphin show.

Richart Ruddie Health Blue Print

Living in Florida feels healthier if not for the cleaner air but the ability to spend more time outside. Bryan Johnson has come forward with bringing even more notoriety and education to the lifespan movement. Dr. David Sinclair has also been instrumental with his book "Lifespan" his tweets and podcasts have also brought his Harvard research to the masses. So with the help and education from Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida on the importance of letting food be thy medicine.

Below is a version of my lifestyle choices that I believe are a lot more achievable and doable that should help prolong your life and reverse aging:

Daily Habits:

2 Ounces of Wheatrgrass Freshly Juiced Twice a day

2 Scoops of Sea Moss mixed in with vegan yogurt or taken straight up
Snacking on Dulse Seaweed and Mixed Nuts
1 whole Kiwifruit
2-3 Scoops of Raw Living Spirulina mixed in with Yogurt, Coconut Water, or Granola with Soy/Almond Milk


Vitamins

1 Gram of Resveratol Powder from Renue by Science
1 Gram a day of NMN Powder from Renue by Science
500-1000 grams of Metformin taken after dinner as it stimulates fasting and glucose levels
500-1000 grams of Quercetin
1 Gram a day of Spermidine
3 Sprays of of Fisetin Liposomal from Renue by Science
1000 Milligrams of TMG from Renue by Science
Garlic Supplements
Turmeric



Weekly Habits at Your Own Pace


Okinawa Purple Potato either baked, steamed, or made into mashed format where I add Seaweed Sea Salt and Wasabi
Fermented Foods
Hot Tea
Hot Yoga
Infrared Sauna
Steam
Cold Plunge for at least 2 minutes
Cold Press Juices
Jinfiniti NAD mixed with Water
Apple Cider Vinegar mixed with water

Yearly Habits


Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at 100% pure oxygen for 90 minutes at a time for 5-10 sessions in a row M-F
Prenuvo Whole Body Scan
Epigenitic Test

While not perfect I try to stick to a general level like this when I am in Florida. When traveling it can be a bit tougher to keep all of these habits.

If you have any questions or products that you recommend you can find me on Twitter @ Richart Ruddie

Other items I'm interested in learning more about:

Rapamycin
NAB Booster Shots (done one shot and have nasal spray)

Billion Success Interview with Richart Ruddie

Billion Success is a website that focuses on interviews with entrepreneurs who like to share their wisdom and stories with others to help guide them along their journey. Below is the interview conducted with the news site and myself.

Born to be an entrepreneur Richart Ruddie is a digital marketing expert who owns over a dozen businesses in his portfolio and is up to take on any fun challenge every business day.

A true entrepreneur and innovator in the ORM space Richart Ruddie discusses a little bit of everything with BillionSuccess.com:

• Please tell us a little bit about your business – what is (your company here) all about?  Brandefenders is one of those company names that you have a pretty good idea exactly what the company does just from the name. At a domain conference that was one of the biggest pieces of advice on a domain that can tell your visitors exactly what it is you do. We help defend brands and replace fake news attacks with good positive content for our clientele.

• Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company? Like most other businesses things are not planned and they accidently fall into place. I learned my digital marketing skills initially while waiting to get on a trading desk at a boutique hedge fund in Boca Raton, Florida. While paying my dues entailed working on a startup for free I was willing to do it and it ended up paying enormous dividends by investing in learning a new skill that I was able to take and develop different services in the digital space. I never planned to get into reputation management or data privacy removal work but things tend to fall into place if you give yourself opportunities and are willing to take risks. Without risk you lose the biggest potential intrinsically and extrinsically.

• What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
  1. Perseverance. As I blogged about one of my idols Jim Simmons who is the most successful mathematician of all time. He was unsuccessful at first and could have called it quits but luckily didn’t. Those who are willing to work hard and not give up are the stories you hear about that make you smile and I cringe when I hear thte would’ve could’ve should’ve excuses.
  2. Patience. Being an entrepreneur is the gift that keeps on giving but you have to be patient.
  3. Be willing to adopt and change to new environments but never go too far with one trend. Great things are always evolving and you need to be willing to change if needed but you can never risk the entire mission on a change that may not happen. For example Kodak should’ve been aggressively investing in digital but they shouldn’t have put 100% of their focus into it until their legacy business was fully diluted. Whatever happened to Fuji Film by the way? I used to see them advertising all over Yankee stadium.

• What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company? Slow and steady continues to win the race. As more and more referrals come through the door and we have a strong presence of leads that opt into our network of reputation management sites daily we strive to keep a focus on delivering quality solutions paired with excellent customer service. Unfortunately that’s not super scalable like other SaaS companies but we can proudly continue to grow double digits each year thanks to help from additional services we’ve added and direct removals where we or one of our vendors negotiates directly with a webmaster to remove false content online as nobody should have to live with content they don’t approve of on the internet especially if it’s not true or is posted with the sole intention of cyber bullying.

• How have the pandemic and Lockdown affected you or your new business? (Here you can share some stories or lessons learned operating during pandemic lockdown) Lockdowns as we’ve seen were not the best thing to do but like many things in life you don’t always have perfect information to tell you whats ahead. Luckily our team was setup to already work decentrally if needed and we continued to push on with all of our work and only saw a small bit of attrition the first 45 days but then things picked right back up as more people were searching for things online they realized they better clean up whats being said about them or for many of the other niches that we service they got the memo that they need to promote their good press and let the naysayers be pushed down to the wayside.

• How do you separate yourself from your competitors? Like Jeff Bezos when building up Amazon our focus has always been to obsessively ensure that our clients goals and expectations are met and they are happy with what we can do for them. Other companies treat their customers just as another number where as with us we give them a white glove service and let them bother us any time day or night. While it’s been counterproductive to family time it’s been good for referrals and showing our true character that were an honest hard working people just like they are and can empathize with them over their issues. When you have a friend you can confide in it’s easier to say I want to work with you versus xyz reputation company.

• What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them? (Most Important to readers) 1. Early on one of our first clients was a big silicon valley venture capitalist. Knowing what I know now I should’ve put more of an emphasis on building out a complimentary SaaS platform back then and leveraging our relationship to get funded and grow into a multi-billion dollar platform. The more money I can make the more money I can give away to great causes and save lives. So lesson number 1 is take advantage of the relationships with the people you’ve helped and earned their trust.

2. Not hiring more staff in the early days. I’ve traveled the world and worked remotely from China to California. We’ve had numerous freelancers and a small team but we could’ve scaled a bit more and taken the business to a higher magnitude had we brought in full stack developers and built out a SaaS platform early on.
   
   
3. I’ve leveraged the cash flow here to start other great projects but would have re-invested more capital in product development. We have great offerings but being heavy on technology that would be hard to replicate would really have increased our overall valuation.

• Tell us a little bit about your marketing process, what has been the most successful form of marketing for you? (Second Most Important to readers). The most successful is the word of mouth clients. Every week we have new leads who say I’ve seen what you did for this person or my friend, lawyer, PR company, SEO agency, you name it complimented your work and now I have this problem and I’m looking for an expert like you to solve it. The second is creative search content. Whether it’s creating content about a recent news story and giving our take on the subject matter or ranking for obscure websites that we can delete content from with our direct relationships it’s all about being creative and thinking about how a user queries a search term and how to craft content that may appear for that.

• What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them? In 2016 I was being extorted by an ambulance chasing attorney who made false claims but it was important to protect my clients first and foremost and ensure that the company I started continued on as a viable entity and showed that we stand by our clients through thick and thin. While it was annoying to have to pay off the ambulance chaser attorney to make him go away our business grew exponentially because they saw that Richart Ruddie has character and ethics above and beyond what any other company owner in my space would have done for them. When you show your clients that you are vested in their success they appreciate that and not only do they stick by you but they also refer you their friends and that’s exactly what happened. Those who don’t kill you truly do make you stronger.

1. What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?  I’ve prided myself in always being creative and innovative. My mother brought me to an InventHelp location outside of Owings Mills, Maryland when I was a kid to discuss the idea of a wireless charging device. Decades later we have charging pads but it was intruiging to see how the early stage development of ideas come together. I’ve done everything from create sports betting brands to looking into play to win arcade games. There was a video game called Stacker that was growing in popularity and I wanted to purchase the arcade game and place it in different malls. Problem is I didn’t have the capital at the time so went on to run a parking company in Florida which ultimately led me to where I am today. My children when they have ideas and need some startup capital I’ll be ecstatic to take on those journeys with them.

• What are you learning now? Why is that important? Data privacy is the new gold. While the early 2010’s we saw the growth in big data now were seeing the huge growth in how we process that data and what we do with it.  As more states and governments enact privacy protections it’s important to know how data is being handled. An exit from the online public relations business and into the ever growing world of privacy while still pursuing other entrepreneurial passions would be ideal.

• If you started your business again, what things would you do differently? (if you wouldn’t do anything different, why not) Hindsight is 20/20 and if you play the butterfly effect too much you’ll drive yourself insane with would’ve, could’ve. Should’ve’s. The only thing is I would’ve bought all ETH when it came out and all BTC in 2009 and sold it all in Q1 2022 and then started a foundation to donate to change the world for the better in orders of magnitude.

• What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company? (other than your own. Please insert links – Do explain why you’re recommending them) I’m a big fan of Serpwoo.com which a friend of mine developed and I helped consult with feedback at the earliest of stages. It’s a search engine ranking placement tracker to see where your target keywords for clients are rising or falling. Spreedly is a charging and CRM tool that’s become very helpful and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the team at their headquarters in Raleigh North Carolina right next to where Google is located, and I’m a big fan of Google’s suite of products from spreadsheets, to docs, to presentations.

• What’s a productivity tip you swear by? There’s method to the madness and everybody has their own way of getting things done. You don’t need strict conformity as long as you produce. If somebody doesn’t come around in the early stages however it’s best to cut bait as bad habits are hard to change and it’s hard to unteach laziness.

1. Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs? (other than your own. Please insert links – Do explain why you’re recommending them) I’ve become a big fan of the All In Podcast with Jason Calcanis, David Sachs, Friedberg, and Chamath which gives a great perspective on what’s happened in the world that week with advice from seasoned Venture Capitalists, tech experts, and they conversate in a manner that makes you feel like you can chime in.

1. If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it? (Third Most Important to readers – Assume you have a laptop and unlimited wifi) A re-seller of tech services doing white label services and software would be the way to start. There’s a lot of great stacks out there that don’t have great marketing teams and sales people. I’d get permission to be a re-seller, create a website, setup a small targeted ad campaign, and pick up the phone and start calling prospects to start generating revenue. From there you can build and build. When I started out in the structured settlement industry we essentially had affiliate partners and were excellent marketers that outgrew our partners. I would aim to do the same if I was down to my last $1,000. 

• What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business? When you do what you love it’s not work. It’s true for entrepreneurs and as long as you continue to face challenges, problems, and can find unique ways to resolve them it keeps things fun and exciting.

What is your favorite quote?  Almost every day there’s great quotes that I’m spreading on twitter. Today that quote is from Abraham Lincoln: “Focus on Common Humanity, Not Small Group Identities”

1. What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out? (Your chance to convince the reader to take action now) Don’t ever be afraid to take chances and think that the time isn’t now. There is never the best time it’s you who makes the time right and you who says the time is not now. Choosing later delays the inevitable.

1. Who should we interview next and why? Jason Calcanis from This week in Startups.

• What is your definition of success? Happiness & Freedom. I was staying at the Four Seasons in Washington, D.C. last year and the Cleveland Cavaliers had their entire basketball team staying there. As they got off the bus the manager was directing the players on where to walk in a single file line, they all had to be masked up, and they all had to dress in an appropriate and approved manner. As I strolled around not being required to wear a mask, wearing whatever I want, and walking my dog in whichever direction he chose to walk, I realized that as an entrepreneur you have more freedom than some of the highest paid athletes in sport leagues who are wildly successful but still have a large set of rules they need to follow if they want to get paid. That to me is just one of many ways I can measure my success.

• How do you personally overcome fear? I try not to stress because it’s not healthy and I strive to live a very health-conscious lifestyle. Things are never as bad as it seem when you take a step back and work through problems calm, cool, and collected. 

• How can readers get in touch with you? (No Bullet points URLs, please answer like you were talking to someone. only share info you want people to use. no phone numbers) If you’re intrigued by my thought patterns and would like to connect then show me a creative way to connect and drop a line. I’m always looking at new ventures and have invested in numerous businesses over the last decade.

Richart Ruddie on the importance of Culture

Culture is great not just for business but for learning the ways of the world. Thats why there is such an important emphasis to diversify your travels. Traveling around the world to new countries, cities, provinces/states, and continents that you only hear about in books or the internet growing up. When you do so you have the opportunity to learn about how other societies operate. 

When you experience a new city it's enlightening to meet people of different cultures, try their food, view their buildings and architecture, see the spirit of the people and this helps to change your perspective from potential subconscious biases you may have had previously. When you return and meet somebody from that culture or place you've visited you now have something to talk about and the ability to relate. Outside of reading books this is a great way to build knowledge, understandings of others, and traveling and eating are a great way to live life to the fullest. 

So if you follow my ZeeMap or Mapster showcasing all the places "Richart Ruddie" has been to know that there are so many more and yet so little time to make it to them all but if there's a will there is a way.

Rich Ruddie AI Future Playbook

AI is going to change the way we make graphic designs for blog posts, create art, nfts, create royalty free music and sound clips. There's so many positive benefits being created with the future of DALLE-2 and the AI revolution thats on the horizon. Here are a couple of cool references to check out and use:

https://app.inferkit.com/demo - This lets you put in subject matter and see how the machine writes a story around it.

Google CoLAb - This is the place to get started for Machine Learning and has a monthly fee.

Robert Bruce Carter covered an AI Jukebox where the Github list of 4,111 artists are compiled and used to make sound clips and music. You can see his story about it here.

For image creation on the fly you can register with OpenAI this is a game changer that is going to destroy the royalty image business overnight. Think about how the iPhone destroyed MP3 players. Who is going to want stock images of a team at work for a fee when they can generate it via AI in seconds and ensure it's unique and is not going to be recreated?

For fun I put in Richart Ruddie to see what images would be created in the OpenAI image generator and here is what it created:

As you can see I don't look like either men on the left or right and I don't have a sculpture or statue in a square but maybe it was focusing on Rich and Art? That could be the reasoning for the ship sailing. To determine if a photo is created via OpenAI look for the colors of the rainbow in the bottom right corner.

Since I'm an art collector and fan I typed in Picasso Painting on the Beach. The initial photos had an easel on the sand. A clear operator error that was adjusted to "a picasso painting of the beach" and this is what it generated:

Richart Ruddie Recommendation MJ Demarco

The fast lane has the type of mentality and thinking that can drive great success in your career. As life leads to a few simple rules to follow. One of mine is remembering your ABC's not always be closing but always be calm, cool, and collected. So following the 3 C's MJ Demarco has the 3A's which are Act, Assess, and Adjust. In business you are always acting, looking at the results, and revamping. If you don't you can't innovate and grow.

"It's like rowing a boat in a river: The market is the river. Your actions are the rowing. Sure, you can fight the current, but the market currents will always give you clues on the best routes.  Bottomline, GET INTO THE RIVER and see where it might take you."

Now this is not to be confused with a market research paper that says by 2024 there will be 5 million people desiring this service. If Ford Motors did that in the 1900's they would've said more horse power and not from an automobile.

"If I asked what my customer's wanted, they would have said faster horses" -- Henry Ford.


Ozan Varol also has some great talking points

If you look at SpaceX and NASA Rocket scientists they take a very balanced Goldilocks approach to a failed rocket launch or mission that doesn't pan out. Instead of being discouraged they rub it off for the greater cause. So don't celebrate a failed experiment but don't let it block you from progressing.

So instead the saying is a spin off of facebook's move fast and break things or from Ozan "Lear Fast don't fail fast"

Approaching failure through curiosity, trial, and error. Breakthroughs are evolutionary yet not revolutionary. If you learn from all the updates, changes, and iterations while getting better with the updates you'll function like a growing app where each update or software improvement makes things better and patches old bugs. Look at what Apple has accomplished with capabilities on the iphone from 2008 to now.

Apple has not become complacment with their success either and continues to improve privacy, safety, and technological improvements that improve your user experience. You can still take the wrong approach or do things wrong and still succeed. You can also do everything right and fail especially when not everything is in your control.

After a success or failure ask these questions. What is it that you did correct and why did it work out this time? What went wrong and what are your most important lessons from the results. 

I'm big on principles and the continous micro improvements in life, business, and social settings. 

-Richart Ruddie

 

 

South Florida Michelin Restaurant Guide by Richart Ruddie

As an update to the original post below with the predictions of what restaurants would earn a Michelin star in the state and which would not. I am shocked that Naoe was not named but was glad to see some of my other favorite restaurants in South Florida did make the list like The Surf Club and L'Atelier in the Design District which was the only 2 Michelin star restaurant in the state.

Here are the restaurants in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties that made the cut. 

The 14 restaurants are The Surf Club at the Four Seasons in Surfside (North Miami). This was a prediction of mine as well as Le Jardinier in the Design District. Other notable restaurants are Boia De, Cote the popular Korean BBQ spot that started in New York City and is a near replica with their Miami location. 

Hiden in Wynwood which is one of the harder tables to get with a secret bodega like door that opens to the Omakase dining experience in Wynwood is a must do if you love sushi, The Den at Azabu Miami Beach, Stubborn Seed, ElCielo which also has locations in Medellin Colombia and Washington DC, Los Felix, and Ariete.

Out of the 14 star winners Cote, Le Jardinier, Le Atelier, and ElCielo all have locations in at least 1 other city so if you can't eat there when in Miami you can always try at another location.

Original Post from November, 2021 with predictions:
In 2022 Michelin is finally coming to South Florida. As California found when they paid Michelin to come and rate their restaurants the hospitality industry exploded leading up to the covid pandemic. So here are my current picks for restaurants in Miami, Broward, and Palm Beach County that will make the Michelin 1, 2, and 3 stars:

3 Star Michelin Restaurants in Miami:

Naoe - Run by Wendy who will let you know that there are only about 1,000 Japanese families in Miami and this one is by far the most authentic. You get the whole restaurant to yourself and a true Omakase experience. This is definitely the best restaurant in Miami and my pick for the only 3 Michelin star restaurant in Miami.

2 star Michelin Restaurants in Miami:

Surf Club at the Four Seasons - This restaurant does not have a tasting menu but everything was fantastic at this famous restaurant from Thomas Keller who is no stranger to Michelin Stars
Hiden - A Special bodega style entry at this restaurant that you have to book months out should be a 2 star Michelin rated restaurant.
L atelier de joel robuchon - Located in the Design District this restaurant gives you a choice between a tasting menu and a la carte. 

1 Star Michelin Restaurants in Miami:
La Mar
The Bazaar
Joe's Stone Crabs
Stubborn Seed
Le Jardiner

Milo's

Mr. Omakase

La Mar
Le Petite Maison

El Cielo

Sushi Erika

Pao

 

Broward & Palm Beach County Michelin Star Restaurants

 

These are my predictions for Broward and Palm Beach county restaurants:

Broward County:
Diplomat Prime
Tatiana
Steak 954
Lobster Bar

Palm Beach County:

6 Tables

Cafe Boulud
Flagler Steakhouse
6 Tables in Boca Raton

Cafe L'Europe

Le Bibloquet

Sant Ambroeus

La Goulue

Will look forward to checking back in 2022 and seeing which restaurants I predicted made the list and which ones did not. 

What Richart Ruddie's 2021 Philanthropy Went Towards

Effective Altruism in practice makes a monumental shift in society. 2021 was the biggest year yet and the report on where donations that I helped contribute towards went and how they changed the lives of those across the globe are remarkable to say the least. With careful consideration a company GiveWell who was featured in the book "The most good you can do" stuck out from the crowd for donors and thus has been one of my main targets for yearly donations in practicing effective altruism.

4th quarter of 2021 donations went to the following initiatives:

 

Against Malaria Foundation

Deworm the World Initiative

Helen Keller International's vitamin A supplementation program

Malaria Consortium's seasonal malaria chemoprevention program

New Incentives

Sightsavers' deworming program

Funds allocated through donations and grants like mine helped to fill the highest priority funding needs when it was time to decide how to allocate the funds. My hope is that these types of gifts that are an integral part of the impact that the grants start to catalyze others to step up and contribute to causes that make the world a better place versus causes that make their instagram look like they are living in a better place.

So what changes did Richart Ruddie's Donation Contribute Towards?

• How about saving  the lives of  8,400 people? Yes, thats eight thousand four hundred people through the distribution of long-lasting antimalarial nets, seasonal chemoprevention to protect against malaria, provision of vitamin A supplements to children, and incentives provided to caregivers for vaccinating their infants
• So how do you top that number? You contribute towards a program that focuses on change and not running a not for profit who also provides close to 17 million children with life-improving treatment for parasitic worm infections

Making donations to places so far away that most people couldn't even fathom heading towards that direction. Most will never go and visit sub sahara Africa and thats okay because you don't need to see those you donate to in order to substantially impact their lives. Here is a map of countries impacted directly a continent away from us here in America.

 

So whats the breakdown of the organizations receiving the funds and what do they specialize in? Glad you asked along with the total allocation

Malaria Consortium

Total allocation: $22.2 million
Where these funds will be used: Burkina Faso, Chad, Nigeria, and Togo
Expected lives saved: 5,200
Intervention: Seasonal malaria chemoprevention to prevent malaria, which disproportionately kills children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.[4]

New Incentives

Total allocation: $9.4 million
Where these funds will be used: Nigeria
Expected lives saved: 2,100
Intervention: Conditional cash transfers to encourage caregivers to immunize their children against potentially deadly but preventable diseases, in a part of the world where vaccination rates are low.[5]

Sightsavers

Total allocation: $7.8 million
Where these funds will be used: Nigeria, Cameroon
Expected treatments delivered: About 9.6 million across both countries
Intervention: Mass deworming treatments for children, which we believe may have a significant effect on their future income and subtler benefits to their overall health.[6]

Deworm the World Initiative

Total allocation: $4.8 million
Where these funds will be used: Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan
Expected treatments delivered: About 7 million across all three countries
Intervention: Mass deworming treatments.

Against Malaria Foundation
Total allocation: $3.4 million
Where these funds will be used: Nigeria
Expected lives saved: 570
Intervention: Long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) to protect against malaria-carrying mosquitoes.[7]

Helen Keller International
Total allocation: $1.4 million
Where these funds may be used: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria
Expected lives saved: 600
Intervention: Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) to prevent stunting, anemia, blindness, and death in young children.[8]

I hope that in 2022 and beyond that you consider pledging more of your income towards causes that significantly impact the bulk of a population. Follow the footsteps of other major donors like Sam Bankman who set an example for philanthropy and the lack of living lavishly so others can live better.

References:

1. See a list of past distributions from the Maximum Impact Fund here. The largest distribution prior to this one was of funds received in Q4 2020, totaling $25.9 million.
2. October through December 2021. 
3. See this spreadsheet, rows labeled "MIF Q4 2021," for a list of all grants made with Q4 2021 Maximum Impact Fund donations and their expected outcomes. Note that these outcome estimates are specific to these grants, and the cost-effectiveness of other grants to these top charities may be higher or lower. More information about the cost-effectiveness of Maximum Impact Fund grants we've made in the past can be found here.
4. "The percentage of total malaria deaths in children aged under 5 years reduced from 87% in 2000 to 77% in 2020.... About 96% of malaria deaths globally were in 29 countries. Six countries – Nigeria (27%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), Uganda (5%), Mozambique (4%), Angola (3%) and Burkina Faso (3%) – accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2020." WHO, World Malaria Report 2021, p. xvi
5. In 2019, 43% of Nigerian infants did not get the full set of DTP, PCV, and HiB vaccines, and 33% did not get the BCG vaccine (see Our World in Data, Global vaccination coverage, Nigeria, 2019). New Incentives' program directly incentivizes all of these vaccines; see our report on New Incentives' program for more.
6. See "What are the benefits of mass deworming?" in our report on combination deworming programs such as those implemented by Sightsavers and Deworm the World.
7. See the "In a nutshell" section of our report on mass distribution of LLINs: "There is strong evidence that when large numbers of people use LLINs to protect themselves while sleeping, the burden of malaria can be reduced, resulting in a reduction in child mortality among other benefits."
8. From our review of Helen Keller International's program: "Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) can cause stunting, anemia, xerophthalmia (dry eyes, which can lead to blindness), increased severity of infections, and death.... Helen Keller supports countries' VAS programs for preschool-aged children by providing technical assistance, engaging in advocacy, and contributing funding to governments for implementing the programs."
9. You can read more about GiveWell’s plans to roll over a portion of 2021 funds into 2022 here.

-Richart Ruddie

The Best Time to Buy a House is when the Mortgage Payment to Income Ratio is between 15-20%

Looking at the chart below from Knight Mortgage the best time to buy a house is when the Mortgage Payment to Income Ratio is between 15 and 20% if you followed that guideline you would have bought at great times in the market over the last 20 years. As mortgage rates rise now we are in a unique environment with sky rocketing demand in Florida and a lack of housing supply so that dictates that even with increased mortgage rates prices are not dropping drastically as of now we are seeing strong demand for housing and bidding wars on the properties we developed and are coming onto the market soon.

 

What makes a great city?

Having local art shows, live theater, concerts, family festivals, food trucks, car shows, unique restaurants, and more activities are the things that I would look for when rating a city. It's nice when a city has a style of architecture it's known for. Whether it's Bay Windows in San Francisco or Art Deco in South Beach these little things that distinguish a city along with well known landmarks can make a big difference on a great city versus a mediocre.

Having both local alliances that help put on events as well as private and motivated companies that work on getting permits and building out events really makes a difference. I remember when I was growing up in Baltimore and going to a kite festival, The Maryland State Fair, The Enchanted Forest and Renaissance festivals.

I hope that other Florida entrepreneurs that are also part of the FLVEC  connect to put together great events that make a lasting impact on the residents and visitors in their area. Fort Lauderdale has been burgeoning with new great restaurants and events happening in and around the Las Olas area. I've compiled a list of activities, museums, attractions, and things to see in South Florida from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties.

If there are additional items that you recommend find me @ Richart Ruddie on Linkedin, Twitter, or Facebook and send me a message with your suggestion.

Walk Las Olas

Morikama Japanese Museum

Rusty Pelican Restaurant

Mai Kai Polynesian Restaurant

Everglades Park

Atlantic Avenue

Vizcaya Museum

Coral Castle

Ann Norton Sculpture Garden

Venetian Pool

Fairchild Botanical Gardens

Kampoong Garden

Coco Walk + Coconut Grove

Cornell Art Museum

Nova Museum of Art

Boca Raton Beach Club & Resort

Norton Museum of Art

Perez Art Museum

Superblue Miami

Design District + ICA Museum

Wynwood Walls

Walk Key Biscayne Lighthouse and Eat on the Water

Walk Brickell Key

History Museum of Miami

Bass Museum

Wolfsonion Museum

Museum of Contemporary Art

Jewish Museum of Florida

Shops at Merrick Prk

UM Lowe Art Museum

Mizner Park

City Place + Clematis

Worth Avenue

South Pointe Park

Lincoln Road

Mermaid Lunch or Dinner on Ft. Lauderdale Beach

Water Taxi

Murder Mystery Dinner

Local Cuban or Peruvian Cooking Class

Upper Buena Vista

Boat Rental

Miami Japanese Garden

Joia Beach & Deck @ Island Gardens

Grow Florida Venture Fund Profile

For my residential development real estate company in South Florida Grow Florida Venture fund with the help and support of the greater broward and fort lauderdale business alliance was kind enough to do a profile for me at: https://flvec.com/richart-ruddie

Reflecting Back on 9/11 20 years ago from Owings Mills

You always remember where you were when you heard the news about the twin towers. That's the echo of today that I constantly hear when September 11, 2001 comes up. Like other monumental historical moments from my parents generation about the JFK shooting or landing on the moon September 11, 2001 was one of the biggest moments of my pre-adult life that I remember vividly.

The other big global change that I remember is the handoff of Hong Kong from the British back to China where my 7th grade middle score teacher Mrs. Sanacore said this is a pivotal moment that will have great impact in the future. Today that makes more sense to me than it did than as all I remember seeing was the fireworks display over the Bay in Hong Kong.

Thinking about it on the 20th anniversary I was trying to figure out if it was in my 10th grade or 11th grade mathematics class. On September 10th, 2001 Brian & Jon two friends that sat next to me chatted about Brians uncle and how he owned a ton of stock in this company XM Radio that was the future of radio. I had just turned 16 less than a month earlier and believe that I had one of the classic Nokia phones through Cingular Wireless which was my first cell phone. 

The next day sitting in Math class we had the prototypical standard geeky middle aged male math teacher who was going through the lesson plans for that day when Jon who was a troubled student at the time came in late and the teacher asked if he had a note. He said they are about to make an announcement about the planes that hit the buildings in New York. That didn't sink in then and when the intercom came on they asked for all students to report back to their home room for an announcement.

Ms. McCall I believe was her name was my home room and 1st period teacher. She rolled in one of those televisions on a cart that we used back in the earlier 2000's and we watched as the World Trade Centers burned and had no idea of the impact at the time. My friend Ryan and I were in the room watching in disbelief wondering if this was real life or a cartoon as it just looked then and as I watched replays yesterday unreal....

What followed was the teacher saying that this is very serious and you will remember this for the rest of your life. This is one of the biggest moments in American history. As the 2nd tower to get hit but the 1st to fall fell over we asked why it collapsed like that versus falling over like a tree timbering over in the woods? They mentioned the attacks in Washington D.C. as well and one of the students who's father worked in Washington D.C. was pale and worried that her family could have been in danger with so many unknowns in the world at that given moment especially for high school students who didn't have smart phones or connectivity like there is today.

School was evacuated as I believe was the case across the country. No planes were in the sky and we headed to Burger King on Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills, Maryland. I didn't have a car yet and don't believe I had my drivers license quite yet but my long time friend Nick took me home and I spoke to my mom about what was going on and that things were scary. A neighbor named Brian and I picked up our lacrosse sticks and he said Richart I'm going to explain to you whats going on and what happened today.

That was the 1st time I had ever heard the name Osama Bin Laden. Learned about terrorist in the middle east and other global issues that hadn't penetrated my teenager mind. Ruddie there are a lot of bad people out there but this guy funds terrorism and comes from a well known family and he's been plotting something for a while. We tossed the lacrosse ball till it got dark and myself along with the rest of the world tuned in to watch George Bush's speech that night.

The next day I was worried and went to school late with a note, not sure what the next days events would bring. We were all on high alert and canceled our future vacation plans and flights.

As we fast forward 20 years later and reflect back it's insurmontable what happened that day. Watching documentaries and reading in depth articles about loved ones who disappeared that day and vanished never to be seen again. We face new attacks every day whether it's covid-19 or domestic terrorism. If you look at WWII we lost over 20,000,000 humans over the course of 6 years. That averages out over 2,190 days 9,132 humans dying every day. We lost 80,000 from drug overdoses last year and this also tears aparts families and communities.. There are so many landmines and attacks we have to avoid each day of our lives. If you wake up then you are already ahead of millions who perished before you. Whether you're waking up in Palm Beach, Florida or in a jail cell waking up is a big win that you should appreciate if you look back at history.

Days like that make you appreciate life and that we shall never forget.

-Richart Ruddie

Richart Ruddie Engadget Writer

Sometimes you contribute content online and forget that you were once a contributer and writer for a publication. I used to be a writer for Wired.com when they had a program letting young entrepreneurs contribute content and did a few editorials for Today.com. Recently old publications done for Engadget.com popped back up online and are now visible at: 

https://www.engadget.com/about/editors/richart-ruddie

Not sure why they suddenly decided to index and showcase some of my older contributions but perhaps it's because of all the recent press around the work that I'm doing for countries around the world. The Irish Central website and the Times of Malta have both featured me of late and other well known global publications have approached me about covering similar stories.

Richart Ruddie Fort Lauderdale Guide for Food & Activities During COVID-19

Here are some suggestions for food & places to go when visiting the greater Fort Lauderdale area.

Food	Location	Website	Notes
Indian
Bombay Darbar	1521 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301	https://bombaydarbar.com/	Best Indian
Indian Harbor	1515 SE 17th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316		2nd Best
Pizza
Primanti Brothers	901 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd	https://primantibros.com/location/fort-lauderdale-beach	Open 24 hours
Luigis Coal Fired	1415 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301	https://luigiscoalovenpizza.com/	Coal Fired Pizza
Greek
Greek Isles Taverna	3300 N Ocean Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308	greekislandstaverna.com	Authentic small and good for to-go
Vegetarian/Healthy
Myapappaya	1040 Bayview Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Green Bar & Kitchen	1075 SE 17th Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
Spa Juice Bar	1217 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301	http://spajuicebar.com
Stone Crab Claws
Catfish Deweys			In Fort Lauderdale
Billys Stone Crabs			In Hollywood
Steak
Steak 954
Sushi
Phat Boy Sushi
Asia Bay
Thai
Larb	6234 N. Federal Highway
Markets
Living Green Market	1305 E Commercial Blvd,Oakland Park, FL 33334	http://livinggreenfreshmarket.com	Small Grocery Store and Juice Bar
Vegan Fine Foods	330 SW 2nd St #102, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312	https://www.veganfinefoods.com/	Small Grocery Store and vegan menu
Yellow Green Market	3080 Sheridan StreetHollywood, FL 33021	http://www.ygfarmersmarket.com/	Currently closed due to covid-19
Family Friendly Events & Activities
Santa's Enchanted Forest	7900 SW 40th St, Miami, FL 33155	https://www.santasenchantedforest.com/	Canceled for 2020
Childrens Musuem of Science & Discovery	401 SW 2nd St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312	http://mods.org/	Only opened weekends right now
Drive in Movie Theater	3291 W Sunrise Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311	https://www.floridaswapshop.com/	Open everyday
Jungle Island	1111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Miami, FL 33132		Parrots & Animals mostly outside I believe

Congrats to Ubicquia Local Fort Lauderdale iOT Startup Raises Series C

Nice to see a local Fort Lauderdale venture picking up a nice funding round. This local Florida company is a smart cell and smart grid technology company that just raised $30 million dollars in a series C funding round led by Fuel Venture Capital. To date they have raised $60,000,000 in funds since being founded in 2014 (why am I just now hearing about this company?)

The last fund raise was 2 years ago when CEO Ian Aaron joined the company 3 years developing internet of things sensors and devices. Aaron's focus has been to develop commercial products and building out a solid team here in Fort Lauderdale (which can be hard to find top talent down here outside of sales in my experience).

The Broward based company's smart city platforms plug into current streetlights to provide the critical services that include light control, video A.I., and public WiFi. They operate in over 100 cities from across Latin America & the USA including South American Countries Chile, Colombia, Central America's biggest Country Mexico, and of course here in Fort Lauderdale.   

“We plan to leverage our position for streetlights to help develop 5G faster,” Aaron said. “It is a big challenge to find the sites and get the permitting. What we did is plug in a small cell, shorten the process by over a year, and reduce the cost by 25 percent of what they would have paid.”

The company is just now starting to deploy at scale and will go into 2021 with a sizeable backlog of booked orders pending installation, Aaron said.

“I love that we make cities more connected,” he added.

Myself Richart Ruddie a Fort Lauderdale investor and entrepreneur look forward to seeing Ubicquia grow.

Richart Ruddie Believes Machines Can Predict Outcomes

Humans are notoriously horrible at predicting the future. We start off each year with what will happen in the markets and world that given year and well it's always so far off. Even the best pyschics in the world tend to shoot 10-30%. We're better at being able to measure risk when things start to take shape and then jump on the band wagon and hit the gas pedal with some hedging as protection.

Nassim Taleb one of the most intelligent humans in the world told a university class during a filmed lecture that he doesn't believe Warren Buffet, Stanley Druckenmiller, or Any other Richart Ruddie prognosticating is going to be able to predict the markets and are just in a class of people who have been lucky to a point where they accumulate such growth that if Buffet says I believe airlines will go up that they go up and he has billions of dollars invested in them.

What's interesting however is Buffet said he believes airlines and their business model has changed significantly for the forseeable future. We just haven't seen that far ahead yet but their stocks and Mr. Market are signaling something else while Tesla hits all time highs.

So back to Nassim Taleb for one second. He did say that he believes only two people can do so. One is George Soros (yes the one that all the conspiracy theorists say is behind Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement) and the other an idol of mine and other nomination for the most intelligent living human is Jim Simmons of Renaissance Technologies. Everybody else Taleb says should just tail hedge accordingly.

So why do I believe Machines can predict outcomes? In this piece here where they use Tennis match data and match it up against future outcomes the authors claim an accuracy of 75% in predicting the matches at the 2007 and 2008 Grand Slam tournaments. 

In 2020 sportsbooks hedge their risk so no bettor would be able to make billions off of this like they could in the stock market but if you read the 64 page paper you will learn that the applicability of machine learning methods to predict Tennis matches is possible when you let a machine crunch data vs. going on your own gut or memory as humans don't have the ability that machines do. This is just one instance of predictions. Would be interesting to see this data for a 2020 Election Biden vs. Trump vs. the outcome.

For More Information about this see: https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/teaching/distinguished-projects/2015/m.sipko.pdf

- Richart Ruddie official Typepad Blog

Voyage LA Cites Art Aficionadio Richart Ruddie in New Piece

With an opening photo at the Blackjack Table in Lake Tahoe during a direct sales conference. The risk taker and connected entrepreneur Richart Ruddie sits among a diverse crowd of business men and woman in December 2019 right before the outbreak of COVID-19. While the landscape of business has changed for many including a delay of building out another office and operation in Los Angeles, California expanding from just Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The piece discusses challenges in business that include raising venture capital or finding a steady growth pace and learning to be content. There are a lot of other great quotes for an aspiring entrepreneur as Ruddie came from being dead broke 10 years ago to being able to retire now if he wanted to. Read more on the Voyage LA piece on Richart Ruddie and some of the other great pieces where they cover idea makers in and around the Los Angeles area.  





Also I helped pet sit for a sick goat that we lost last week so please send your thoughts and love to the baby goat that we lost during this pandemic amongst the thousands of others who fell ill and have passed.

Notion.so Asana and Trello Replacement?

This app reminds me of using Medium.com for the first time back in 2013. Now the guttenberg editor is common place. Playing around with the Notion note taking space:

https://www.notion.so/Richart-Ruddie-Notion-so-Outline-ca4cb99f59554bf2bb82d1e5cedc5458

Richart Ruddie Linkedin Marketing Strategy

I'm working on developing a Linkedin marketing strategy after seeing success with being able to showcase search results for your given niche. Making a note here to check back on the strategy and to see how long the results take to kick in.

 

Richart Ruddie Linkedin: richart ruddie linkedin Profile