Sunday, September 28th, 2025
Writing to you from Uruguay.
How it’s almost October already…I don’t know. Time is moving fast.
There isn’t much to report on this week. The majority of the week was taken up with trying to spread phosphorus with the DJI T40 drone over a part of our land. I must say, the process is surprisingly simple.
The toughest part of the whole job is shoveling the fertilizer into the container on the drone. Unfortunately, it has a max weight capacity of about 46.8kg…so when you’re trying to spread 200 kilograms of phosphorus per hectare it can take quite a long time. Each flight is very fast — 2-3 minutes max, but that means you’re refilling the drone very often.
Not only that, but you have to frequently switch out the batteries which last anywhere from 8-11 minutes depending upon flight speed, weight, and wind.
Truthfully, the DJI T40 isn’t typically meant to spread so much fertilizer. I think the typical job would be anywhere from 50-80 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare—200 is quite a lot. But, it’s doing it!
It is pretty cool to watch it fly while you stand on the side of the field and relax for a few minutes. All you have to do at this point in the process is have a grid mapped out for the drone to fly, fill the fertilizer container, switch out the batteries and keep an eye on the drone. It’s pretty amazing that it requires so little input.
I think anyone who dedicated 5 solid hours to watching videos on the drone could easily operate it — that’s how easy it is.
Now, I will say, I have had a little bit of trouble trying to figure out which settings are best for the fertilizing missions (in terms of spread rate and figuring out how it can run the best grid over a field) but it has been very helpful. This past week was a trial run. I have half the job done in one field and will finish the other half during the beginning of this next week.
In addition to that, the process to get my sole proprietorship business completely started is moving along well. I got word that it is now a registered company, but I will have to go in to open up a bank account soon.
Electives
1 hour of Spanish practice (5 out of 7 days)
Spanish has been going alright as always. I just have to make sure that I’m consistent in my practice. Vocabulary is still weak for me, but sentence structure is not much of a problem. The trouble is…if you don’t know a few words it doesn’t really matter how you structure the sentence!
1 hour of guitar practice (6 out of 7 days)
Nearly every week I’ve been learning something new on the acoustic guitar, but this past week I’ve tried to just be consistent and touch up the smaller mistakes I make. Overall, I think it’s going well.
Worked out (4 out of 7 days)
I haven’t had much energy by the time the end of the day rolls around (which is when I usually lift weights). Don’t have very much energy in the morning either, so I think it’s a problem of getting in enough calories and moving more throughout the day.
Reading
Finished reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Continued reading The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Things I published
Opportunities Will Come Your Way If You Do This...
Let’s talk about something very important: Opportunities.
It wasn’t an eventful week, but things are moving along with the drone business. The main objective was to finally use the DJI T40 drone and test it out on our own land, which is in dire need (as most land in Uruguay is) of phosphorus. This trial week with the drone has proved that it’s cool, but also very useful.
I expect there will be lots more progress going into October…
Are these updates informative? Are they useful? Entertaining?
Leave a comment below if you’ve got any suggestions or questions for me.
And don’t forget to send this to someone who might benefit.
I’ll see you next week.
-Maxim Benjamin Smith
I am acting as a guinea pig for a program which is meant to prepare young men for the future. This program is designed to be a replacement for the only three routes advertised to young men today - go to college, the military, or a dead-end job.
All of these typical routes of life are designed to shape us into cogs for a wheel that doesn’t serve us. Wasted time, debt, lack of skills, and a soul crushing job define many who follow the traditional route.
This program, which we can call “The Preparation”, is meant to guide young men on a path where they properly utilize their time to gain skills, build relationships, and reach a state of being truly educated. The Preparation is meant to set young men up for success.
What appeals to me about The Preparation is the idea of the type of man I could be. The path to becoming a skilled, dangerous, and competent man is much more clear now. I’ve always been impressed by characters like The Count of Monte Cristo, men who accumulated knowledge and skills over a long period of time and eventually became incredibly capable men.
Young men today do not have a guiding light. We have few mentors and no one to emulate. We have been told that there are only a few paths to success in this world. For intelligent and ambitious people - college is sold to us as the one true path. And yet that path seems completely uncertain today.
We desperately need something real to grab onto. I think this is it.
I’m putting the ideas into action. Will it work? I can’t be sure, but I’m doing my best. I’m more than 60 weeks into the program at this point. So far, so good.
You can follow me along as I follow the program. Each week, I summarize all that I did.
My objective in sharing this is three fold:
Documenting my progress holds me accountable.
I hope these updates will show other young men that there is another path we can take.
For the parents who stumble upon this log, I want to prove to you that telling your children that the conventional path - college, debt, and a job is not the foolproof path you think it is.
