u/Skt_turbo

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my situation and get some outside perspectives, because I think there’s real potential here that I’m not fully capitalizing on.

The Setup

I’m based in Switzerland and act as an intermediary for a regulated private lending company. They provide secured loans to businesses at 15% annual interest, collateralized exclusively by Swiss real estate (minimum 1:1 ratio — so a CHF 1M loan requires a Swiss property worth at least CHF 1M). Everything is fully legal and regulated.

My role: I refer borrowers, and upon successful disbursement I earn a 2–5% referral fee depending on loan size. The lender is also remarkably fast if the borrower performs on documentation, funds hit the account within 7 days.

The Numbers So Far

Over roughly the past two years, without actively marketing this at all, I’ve facilitated approximately 30 loans totaling around CHF 50 million purely through my personal network and word of mouth. I’m currently averaging 1–2 deals per month.

My Question

How would you scale this if you were in my position?

My instinct is that a website positioning us as a “private lending firm” probably won’t move the needle much. Companies needing loans of this size rarely Google for lenders they ask their trusted advisors: fiduciaries, accountants, lawyers, private bankers.

So my current thinking is to build a B2B referral network approach those intermediaries directly, offer them a 50/50 commission split on closed deals, and let them become the pipeline.

But I’m curious what this community thinks.

Would love to hear how you’d approach scaling this from 1–2 deals/month to something more systematic without losing the speed and simplicity that makes this lender attractive in the first place.

Hello everyone,

This is a long story, and English is not my first language, so an AI helped translate my German text.
I would genuinely like to hear your opinions on what a Stoic response would be in the situation that happened to me yesterday.

Yesterday, I was at our regular bar with my father, my uncle, and my uncle’s brother-in-law. I am 27 years old, while the others are all over 50.

Later, my cousin arrived. I consider him more like a brother than a cousin. Since my uncle is my father’s brother, I have always looked at my uncle like a second father.

My cousin came with his best friend. They are both around 20 years old. The friend is married and has a child.

When they arrived, we change our table so that everyone could sit together at one table.

About five minutes later, my father asked me to exchange a €50 note because he knew I had one in my pocket. When I reached into my pocket, I realized the money was gone.

I said, “Oh no, I I lost the €50.”

Thankfully, I am in a privileged position financially, so the money itself was not a major issue. Still, losing money is annoying whether it’s €10 or €50, and I was frustrated because I clearly remembered feeling the note in my pocket only a few minutes earlier.

To make a long story short, we spent about two minutes looking for it. I even got down on my knees to search under the table, and my father quickly did the same.

The waitress came over and asked what was going on. I told her I had lost €50. She asked if she should check the security cameras, and I thought, “Why not?”

My cousin and his best friend even went behind the bar with the waitress to review the footage but they came back to table after 1-2 Minutes.

About 15 minutes later, (they searched the Camera for 15 min) the waitress called me over and said, “I’m really embarrassed to show you this, but you should see it yourself.”

The footage showed my cousin’s best friend finding the €50 and putting it into his pocket.
I walked back to the table and immediately asked him, with a raised voice:

“Ehy you took the money?!

He replied, “Yes, sorry,” and handed it back.

For about ten seconds, I stayed quiet. The atmosphere at the table became completely dead and extremely uncomfortable.

Then I became very angry.

What made me angry was not the €50. It was the fact that we had all been searching for the money. I had been on my knees looking for it. My father had been on the floor looking for it. This guy had even gone to review the camera footage and still never admitted that he had found it.

I lost control of my emotions and confronted him.
I said:

“What is wrong with you? Are you that stupid? We’re all searching like idiots. I’m on my knees, my father is on the floor looking for it, and you say nothing?”

He stayed calm and was clearly ashamed.
Then I said something I regret. I told him:
“If you have no money or don’t even have enough food at home, tell me and I’ll gift you money.”

I was still furious. I hit the table and told him:
“Finish your cigarette and leave our table.”
He did.

Afterward, he spent a long time apologizing to my cousin.
The next day, he apologized to me personally and tried to explain himself. I told him:

“You don’t need to keep apologizing. I’m talking to you normal , I’m not insulting you, and I’m not refusing to acknowledge you. But what you did was extremely embarrassing. You had plenty of opportunities to say you found the money.”

From the moment I noticed the money was missing until the waitress found the footage, about 30–35 minutes had passed. During all that time, he had multiple chances to admit what happened.

Today, he wanted to explain himself again. I told him:
“I’m not angry anymore. You made a very foolish decision. When we see each other, I’ll shake your hand, say hello and goodbye, and treat you respectfully. But I don’t think you’ll be sitting at my table anymore.”

The strange thing is that I actually feel sorry for him now. I have sympathy for him. The shame he must have felt in front of everyone was probably enormous.

I also apologized for my comment about him not having money or food at home, because that was said in anger and was unnecessary.

My question for the Stoics here is:
What would have been the most Stoic way to handle this situation?

Was my anger justified, even if my reaction was excessive?

Should trust be permanently lost after something like this?

Is keeping a respectful distance while remaining civil the right approach?

How would you balance justice, forgiveness, and self-respect in this situation?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Hey everyone,

I just booked two tickets for the WEC race at Spa. It will be my first WEC event ever, and I’ve also never been to Spa before, so I don’t really know what to expect.. also we don't follow WEC at all..

Our Plan is driving from Zurich early Saturday morning (around 3–4 AM) and plan to arrive in Spa Village first, walk around the town a bit, grab some food, etc. before going to the Track.

We also got the paddock tickets (€75).

Any tips for the event, the track, or the overall experience would be appreciated. Things like best spots to watch, what to bring, how the paddock works, or anything we shouldn’t miss.

Thanks in advance