In my free time today, I’m talking about how one simple but powerful rule — thinking in probabilities — has helped me make better decisions in life, work, and relationships.
From my early days playing Blackjack and poker to how I now approach creating content on YouTube, I explain how the logic of risk and reward can completely change the way you see everything around you — your investments, health, marriage, patience, and ultimately… life itself.
You’ll learn:
How probability-based thinking protects you from bad decisions and burnout
Why YouTube is the longest-term “bet” you can make
How to enjoy the process when nothing is guaranteed
Why discipline and consistency matter more than luck
How to find “value” in every area of life — from betting and marriage to health and career
If you’re tired of feeling like your decisions are driven by instinct or luck, this episode will help you see life through a mathematical — yet deeply human — lens.
🙏 SUPPORT
If you’d like to support my work, I can send you the original scripts of each episode straight to your inbox the moment they go live: https://jmks.co/support
🧠 TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] Intro – The Simple Rule Behind Every Decision
[01:43] The Sunday Story That Led to This Episode
[05:25] The First Time I Realized Life Runs on Probabilities
[07:23] When Luck Turned Into Math
[08:04] Risk vs Probability – What’s the Difference
[08:36] The Moment I Was Right and Everyone Else Was Wrong
[09:13] The Human Factor You Can’t Calculate
[10:16] When Money Tests Your Logic
[11:40] How to Lose Less When You Can’t Win
[13:05] Why Most People See Betting as Gambling
[13:46] Can Life Ever Be Fair When Probabilities Aren’t
[14:29] When I Stopped Being Just an Observer of Life
[15:03] Applying Blackjack Logic to Everyday Decisions
[16:10] The Hard Lesson Poker Taught Me About Patience
[18:33] The Hardest Decision I Ever Made Based on Math
[19:11] When Analysis Becomes Enjoyment
[19:54] What Blackjack and YouTube Have in Common
[20:38] The True Meaning of “Value” in Content Creation
[21:59] YouTube as the Longest Bet You’ll Ever Place
[22:26] When a Video Doesn’t Hit – Luck or Small Sample Size
[23:25] How Thinking in Probabilities Prevents Burnout
[24:26] Why Consistency Always Beats Random Success
[25:39] Measuring “Value” in Marriage and Relationships
[26:57] Making Choices Even When the Odds Are Against You
[27:41] Was Working Solo a Mathematically Correct Decision
[28:11] Health Habits as Positive-EV Investments
[28:51] Do the Odds Even Out Over Time
[29:42] Avoiding a Negative Life Expectancy
[30:18] Staying Balanced in a Risky World
[30:40] The Illusion of Control and Calculated Odds
[30:59] Life Summed Up in a Blackjack Quote
[31:03] What’s Scarier – Losing or Not Playing at All
[31:26] Do Good Decisions Bring Luck or Vice Versa
[32:24] Would You Want to Know the Exact Odds of Success
[32:56] If Everything Is Probability, Then What Is Certainty
🔗 LINKS
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_C0jhH1ZL6c
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
Off Route is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
I went for a ride with the roof down and came up with a new idea for the title of my podcast!
🎬 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:01 - Changing the podcast title
01:57 - YouTube update
04:17 - Work from home and business life
06:35 - I am getting old
08:41 - How I filmed this video podcast
10:45 - Why I made this podcast
12:46 - The best advice for content creators
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zoYVhOOSaFU
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Jim Makos Podcast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Updating you about health, wealth, and family issues currently playing out in my life, before we left Skyros Island.
🎬 CHAPTERS00:00 Why I’m recording this podcast 01:56 Why I didn’t script this episode 02:37 What I’m discussing today 03:57 What I did in Skyros for 10 days 06:19 Walks with wife & swimming in April 09:33 How I counted calories 10:33 Work Talk 14:10 Health Talk 19:08 Wealth Talk 22:48 My YouTube Channel’s goal 27:11 Family Talk 30:18 Long-term life goals 31:44 Thoughts on the podcast
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zXjfQu7sEXg
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Jim Makos Podcast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
In this episode of The Makos Cast, I dive into the pros and cons of teleprompter reading versus off-the-cuff talking. As a documentary filmmaker, I’ve tested both methods while filming myself in interviews. I’m sharing insights based on my recent experience, like how a teleprompter improves precision, but spontaneity shines when speaking off the cuff.
🔗 LINKS
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube:https://youtu.be/G5JwtScAv4U
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker:https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Recently, I had to explain the cryptocurrency market to a beginner who happened to be a legal advisor and was interested in buying Bitcoin. At the same event, I showed another dad how to buy Ethereum. So, today, I am telling that story and what we all learned from it.
🔗 LINKS
- Why I don't talk about gambling as a professional gambler: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jimmakos/episodes/Why-I-Dont-Talk-About-Gambling-as-a-Professional-Gambler--EP10-e2nt559
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z5s2ku4k7-Y
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🎬 Chapters/Timestamps 00:00 Why am I talking about cryptocurrencies?
02:05 What are cryptocurrencies?
06:05 What is blockchain
07:14 How cryptocurrencies are created (mining)?
09:27 What is a crypto wallet?
10:37 How cryptocurrency transfers are made
13:28 The biggest risk in the cryptocurrency market
14:11 How does Bitcoin price go up or down?
16:53 The virtual economy of fiat and cryptocurrencies
17:36 How I would invest my money as a beginner
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
As I have built a career based on predictions as a professional gambler, I thought of sharing my predictions on Artificial Intelligence and how AI will affect different lines of work.
🔗 LINKS
- How I expect AI will disrupt the Gambling industry: https://jimmakos.com/ai-gambling-disrupt/
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/imhK24xSXII
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
I didn’t post online 74% of the notes I took down in August.
So, in today’s podcast, I’m going through all the ideas and thoughts I had in August and took down on my Notion database.
(That 74% is an estimate; I didn't actually calculate the percentage)
🔗 LINKS
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jpVMiq4X0k0
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Ever wondered why a professional gambler like me stays silent about the very thing that made me successful? I’ve spent years making money from gambling, but today, I’m going to reveal why I don’t talk much about it and why I never promoted gambling as a path to success.
🔗 LINKS
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FY6X9K28VXo
How to Become a Professional Gambler: https://jimmakos.com/professional-gambler/
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Can a talking head video grow a YouTube channel? I used to doubt that. But no more.
After my latest podcast episode flopped, I almost didn't upload this very episode.
Thanks to this video by a Japanese man, I now believe authentic, raw, real talk on camera may be the best video I can make! And it's not an outlier. More and more talking head videos make it into my YouTube feed on a daily basis, hitting millions of views.
But it's not the high view count that made me change my mind. It's that I actually WATCH them!
🔗 LINKS
This podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RPqzlNGocqc
Japanese man's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfd3yAYzVn0
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Are you tired of boring presentations that put your audience to sleep? Struggling to make your YouTube videos stand out in a sea of talking heads? In this episode, I share an eye-opening story from a friend's experience that highlights the power of using visual aids to captivate an audience. Discover how this approach can transform not only business slideshow presentations but also your video content on social media.
Many content creators and professionals rely heavily on text and static slides, leading to disengaged audiences and missed opportunities to convey their messages effectively.
Today, I discuss how to leverage the full potential of video and visual presentations to capture and maintain your audience's attention. Whether you're a YouTuber, digital marketer, or business professional, these insights will help you create more engaging and memorable content. Or slides in your next presentation!
🔗 LINKS
🎦 Podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A4-RilOoUsM
🎙️ Podcasting Challenges as a Non-Native Speaker: https://jimmakos.com/podcasting/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Episode 7: How can I afford to pay $500 for a theme for my revenue-generating website while I'm trying to extend my cash runway, as I'm trying to recover my website from a Google update hit? I should be very frugal and only spend on necessities until my website becomes more profitable again.
Spending a third of what my website is making per month on the looks of the website doesn’t sound like a good investment. A theme, after all, isn’t the reason for my website's underperforming.
📬 I shared the news with my newsletter subscribers first: https://jimmakos.com/i-spent-500-on-a-theme/
👨🏻💻 Here's what worked for me as a web publisher for more than 15 years. https://jimmakos.com/web-publishing/
🔗 LINKS
This podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5B0TlkhlA0Y
The themes I bought for $499: https://jmks.co/brightthemes (affiliate link)
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Episode 6: In today’s podcast episode, I’ll discuss why and how I moved my most popular website, which gets more than a hundred thousand users per month, from WordPress to Ghost and whether this makes sense financially. I'll also discuss why I think my recent video on anxiety tanked and how my personal website is different from my popular one in terms of business strategy. This episode is all about web publishing and content creation.
📬 Web publishing is like setting up a new branch in a virtual mall, with your website as the storefront. Here's what worked for me as a web publisher for over 15 years.▶ https://jimmakos.com/web-publishing/
🔗 LINKS
This podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/O4VLbFm-rzE
If I was a gambler again: https://jimmakos.com/if-only-i-was-a-gambler-again/
Build an audience, then a product: https://jimmakos.com/build-an-audience-then-a-product/
Documenting move to Ghost on X: https://x.com/JimMakosCom/status/1799026015513289116
WP Engine: https://jmks.co/wpengine
Ghost (Pro): https://jmks.co/ghost
Anxiety video: https://youtu.be/MtcqZauYFww
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
Episode 5: SEO experts now know they were right all along. This week there was a leak of a Google API document that revealed some parts of how the search engine works. SEO people were excited to finally get a peek behind the curtain. The document includes a few signals that Google takes into account when it pushes a website up or down in rankings. Yes, it includes a few signals that are a bit worrying about small web publishers.
I've talked more about this leaked document in this Sunday's podcast, along with what I've learned after sending a newsletter every day for a week and how I'm trying to grow my personal brand on X, formerly Twitter.
📬 Save time and get a concise summary of the podcast episodes delivered to your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter.
🔗 LINKS
This podcast episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A4jfzQtS3MA
Benefits of a daily newsletter: https://jimmakos.com/4-benefits-of-sending-a-daily-newsletter/
Sparktoro video: https://sparktoro.com/blog/11-min-video-the-google-api-leak-should-change-how-marketers-and-publishers-do-seo/
Growing on X: https://x.com/JimMakosCom/status/1796793744483553718
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
In this week's letter I'm going through:
📬 Save time and get a concise summary of the podcast episodes delivered to your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter.
🔗 LINKS
YouTube episode: https://youtu.be/9kLCETpojOc
Betting on Eurovision 2024▶ https://twitter.com/JimMakosCom/status/1789206968877375858
Web publishers praising my videos’ cinema quality▶ https://twitter.com/MorganOMedia/status/1784752520415400178
I hate making guesses about what people enjoy in videos▶ https://twitter.com/JimMakosCom/status/1780972397446734051
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
I tried recording a podcast episode without a script or a bullet point list during our visit to the Greek island of Skyros on Easter Sunday. This is the result. In the third episode, I talk about the steps I'm taking to recover a website from losing its rankings following updates on the search engine, why I took a trip to Paris in the middle of a financial family crisis, and my plan for making videos on YouTube.
👋 CONNECT WITH ME
YouTube | Χ | Instagram
🔗 LINKS
YouTube episode: https://youtu.be/3A02DSSpRYc
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
In today's podcast, I talk about how walking and running burn the same calories, why no one is going to change their mind, and who's the last person to make mistakes. I also discuss nutrition and how I track calories when eating out, why I hate running, and why the iPhone and crypto have been two of my best investments!
👋 CONNECT WITH ME
YouTube | Χ | Instagram
🔗 LINKS
Card game article: https://jimmakos.com/new-years-eve-card-game/
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
© 2024 Weberience LLC
Episode 1: I go through my content creation workflow as I turn my ideas into public content on social media platforms based on my Notion template.
(01:20) Creating content as a non-native English speaker
(05:22) Enjoyed success in Greece
(08:17) My Notion content creation template
(10:54) My content's pillars/topics
(14:18) My content creation process
(15:28) From an idea on Apple Notes to Twitter
(16:48) From Twitter to Reel or Short
(17:29) An idea as a Blog Post or YouTube Video
(18:24) Reading from a script
(20:01) Building an audience
(22:19) Why a video podcast?
👋 CONNECT WITH ME
✉️ Subscribe to my letters
YouTube | Χ | Instagram
🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW
If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to help others discover the show!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
The Makos Cast is my podcast, where I'm sharing what worked for me in gambling, personal finance, and running a web publishing business as a solopreneur working from home while I'm documenting a healthier and wealthier life in Greece.
Thank you for listening,
Jim
© 2023 Weberience LLC