Ryan Alford
Appearances
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah, and you're doing a good job with it. Just reading, what struck me in, I mean, this wasn't my natural space, but researching you guys for this and looking at it, what struck me is the loyalty of the audience. The core audience and how loyal they are and how vested people are in this world and in these characters and in the art world.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
And all that stuff, because the collectible, the interplay of the animation with the physical art, with collectibles and all that, there's a ton of like synergy with those two things. And that mindset is really brilliant. Talk to me about like what those art releases are like and what that world entails. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah. And I guess... The obscurity sometimes with which names come from, you just never know. It just lands certain places. You guys get the name. What was it called? The something of Disney?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Demented Disney. There we go. Yeah, I know. I love it because we talked a little pre-episode and we're going to talk about some names, different things like that. My head gets exactly where the space is sometimes where, you know, words are powerful. Demented Disney. Yes. What makes it Demented Disney ultimately?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
So... Shameless plug for the YouTube channel because our YouTube channel is blowing up. So we got to – you got to be watching this to get the full experience. If you're listening right now, we love you. We know we love you. We love you for making us number one. But look, you have to watch this on YouTube because Jennifer was just holding up one of these characters.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Jennifer, I want you to hold them up again and tell me who that is. Who is – okay. Who is this exactly? So this is –
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah. How, yeah, that was going to be where I was getting like, how rare are we talking about now? How, uh, how's evaluation on these pieces, these going.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah. And it's a really interesting point, Jennifer, because I think about it like as the CEO. Is this a brand play or a revenue play, right? Because it's like, hey, I could sell, am I going to sell a million of these or am I going to do a hundred of them or a thousand?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
And that's because the hundred or a thousand is probably brand because it's probably not a ton of revenue, but it elevates the brand value and the character value. That's an interesting interplay, I'm sure, in the decision process.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yes. I'm sure. But I want our audience, you know, we have a very affluent marketing and business and executives to the startup crowd. But they need to understand this interplay because we've gotten conditioned in this world of very cheap performance marketing stuff. Sell, sell, sell, sell. And that's great. We all got to... Make the cash register ring at a certain point, Jennifer.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
I know you probably held some level of your evaluation, I'm sure, is monetarily driven. However, the high tide raises all ships. And when you elevate the brand, you are elevating the IP to a level of evaluation that it would not have without that investment. And that investment pays over time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Smart. Really fucking smart. I got two smarts out of you, Ryan. I loved it. Yes. This is the Ryan Alford brand playbook. I grew up on the... I've been in this for 20-something years and watched the brand... The, the innovative brand approaches erode. And this is a game of chess when a lot of players are playing checkers and I see that and I value it. So I want to give you props for that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Zach, talk to me, you know, as a collector and as someone that, you know, you're, you're, you're a consumer and working on the brand, uh, Do me and my kids need to get in on this?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month, Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
We have four boys, 15, 13, 12 and eight. And what I do with the boys, I coach their sports teams. And then we have these little collectibles that we do together. So this might fit in there a little bit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah. Well, he can grow into it over time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
You used the analogy earlier, the modern day Tom and Jerry. And if you go watch, if you remember, I remember watching Tom and Jerry. I mean, constant fucking with one another. That's all it was. Constant?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
I want to talk about Vegas and the future retail, but before we go, before we make that turn, um, Talk to me about how your sports background has influenced, like, what you've done here. You know, what's the influences for both of you, really?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Like, I think it's pretty obvious for me, but I think for the audience, you know, what you've done in the past and how that's sort of influencing what you're doing at Super Plastics.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
I want to ask one thing there, Zach. When you guys monetized, thinking through the lens that you just said, and are you guys working with brands that then are paying to come to life within your worlds with these characters? Like, are y'all selling?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
So Janky might be drinking a Red Bull and product placement. Like, do we go that far?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Oh yeah. And I guess I'm always thinking through the lens of like Roblox, like You know, within the Janky and Googie Mons world, these experiences coming to life, the brand experiences in their world, you know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yes, I love it. The I mean, animation. When I think back to the days of animation in the days now, how's it changed? I know I'm leading the witness a little bit, but I just I'm curious, you know, it's like a kid growing up. And then all the stages, though, I know it's changed. But I think for our audience, be interesting to kind of hear just some of the evolution.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Cool.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yep. Got to have the story there. Jennifer, talk to me about Vegas. You know, we've talked, you know, for the episode, you know, retails struggle, you know, with what they need to do to bring people back into the stores and keep people, you know, interested in shopping again. Talk to me about the vision and what you're doing in Vegas.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it sounds fun. Number one, I'm like, you know, it sounds like amusement, amusement ride meets storytelling meets, I don't know, animated characters that you love.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Any Easter eggs there with surprises? Lots.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Really fun stuff, guys. Where are we headed? You know, it sounds like we're living the, you know, the plan right now with the New Vegas experience and all that. But, you know, any future plans we can share?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
I mean, you know, Disney's a little syrupy for me. So I like demented Disney much better. Right? I'm just twisted enough, you know, that this feels.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yep, it is. And, you know, own your different, and you're doing just that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah, for sure.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Hey, guys, where can everybody learn more about Dopamine, what you guys are doing, different ways to get in touch with you and the brand?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
It's been fun guys. Appreciate you coming here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
I'd like to get it. We'll, we'll put it up. You know, I got, uh, Could have a pretty good following. You've got some love on there, too.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Look, I got my props in here. I need some sitting right here. I think so. What's your finishing move on the wrestling belt? Oh, are you kidding me? It's the stinger splash. The stinger splash. Oh, that's old school. You know, uh, that's back in the days of wrestling back in the day, but you got to paint your face, the black and white to do that. Yeah, exactly. Yes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
That, uh, it's a scorpion death lock, you know, if they really want it, but, uh, you know, we'll see. That was my favorite wrestler growing up. So when we do our WWE blind box series, I know where to send you some toys. Yes, for sure. Hey guys, you know where to find us. Ryan is right.com. We'll have all the highlight links to super plastic, uh, Dopamine, my favorite word of the year, maybe.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Here's my closeout. We appreciate you for making us number one. Go check out the YouTube channel and give these guys some love. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Hey, Ryan. Hey. So much.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah. It's interesting. Cause I think about, you know, I was going down the road of like the reporting of the writing with, with animation and how smart the dialogue has gotten in, you know, the more in the talking animation shows. And then I was just thinking like Tom and Jerry, they didn't say a damn thing. It's storytelling, right? What's their voice sound like? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
And I'm like, because I'm like, damn, the writing today is so clever on the best animations, including yours, and the story arc. And I mean, when I talk about writing, I think of it, you know, being a creative guy, like I think through the, you know, what you're seeing in the script combined with the dialogue and all those things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
I mean, maybe talk about that from you guys' perspective for how you bring stories to life.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah. Different threshold, isn't it? And it's so interesting because I think about a comment you just said, Jennifer, like with the way it feels like stuff is scripted the best stuff today, like with the way it draws the audience in, is it's kind of like that wink and a nod, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Like you're in on this, you know, we all know that we're rusing you a little bit, but you're in on it or you're not, right? It's kind of that interplay of letting you in, but are you really in? Isn't it something like that?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah, exactly. Zach, being on the strategy end with the company, what's your role?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah, man. You guys got your hands in a lot. And anybody named Super Plastic gets my attention. No doubt. I got to start there. Where did the name come from?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Yeah, I mean, you've got to cater to your fans. It can't be all things to all people. No, it can't at all. The power of no. And it gets tricky. I'm sure Jennifer as CEO, you're looking at numbers. There's probably temptations to get outside the box sometimes. But it's like keeping that narrow path, right? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
I get it. I'm eating it. I'm eating it for lunch, dinner, everything. As a marketer, as a brand guy, it's really smart. Talk to me about bringing personifying animated characters in a way. You've got social media. You've got all these things. I hope that makes sense. But you have to sort of make them real. And they are real in their own way. But is that a challenge? Is it fun?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Power of Social Brand Experience & Collectibles: Superplastic Launches Dopeameme Institute
Is it all of the above? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
What about like capital raising for ideas of business, you know, like of, okay, maybe it's within an existing industry, but sort of like... the theory of the, you know, the idea of the business, but you don't necessarily have a million customers built in day one, you know, like, or even a thousand or a hundred. Right. Talk to me about that evaluation.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
And do you counsel that side of capital raising?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
As a leader of a company and doing the marketing that you did and having the growth that you had, when you reflect on both the success and what you learned, are there like light bulbs that kind of key points or things that come to mind? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
Money doesn't solve everything, but it sure helps. And, you know, my friend Bradley talks about this a lot. I've been on his show. He's been on mine. And like he's he does a podcast called Dropping Bombs. And but he talks about this, you know, and he's he's done very well. And he just he's just honest about it. He's like, no, I didn't solve everything.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
I'm not happy every day just because I have money. He's like, but damn, I'd rather have it than not. And he's like, he kind of used the same analogy as you. And he's like, sometimes I just want something nice. You know, I want to get my wife. It's like for sure. It's sometimes it's really, you know, pretty simple. But it's not just because he's trying to show off either.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
He's way past the, oh, I got to show my Rolex or something. You know, like it's not that. It's just, hey, wants to take a nice trip. And he doesn't have to think about it for, you know, 14 months and put it on layaway.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
How do you filter? I always find this fascinating. I'm the same way. I breathe in a lot of the stuff. I'm looking, observing. Like you said, you've got a lot of touch points for talking with people, building relationships. Is it a natural instinct or do you test it? How do you know how to filter what to try yourself or what you then enact or use when there's so much stuff out there?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
How did you... embrace social media. When did that light switch, pun intended, I guess?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
How much do you think it plays into now that you've embraced it the last four to five years? If you put a percentage on it, I'm sure you've got data on your ads and things like that, but what percentage would you put your success right now towards all of those channels?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
Hey, guys, you know where to find us, ryanisright.com. You'll find highlight clips, all of the episodes, and our YouTube links, and, of course, where to find our guests and information on everything that they're up to. We appreciate you for making us number one. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
Listen or watch full episodes of Write About Now on the web. Go to ryaniswrite.com or follow at ryanalford on all social media platforms.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
I know you have the 10X platform. I know you've got seven of these and five of these and four of those, but like, have you boiled it down like to the, for both yourself and maybe others, like what, what that success formula truly is?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what's now. We're talking about business. We're talking about marketing. We're talking about life. What's the balance between, you know, when you think about category design and category development?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
it's cool to think about it. At the end of the day, the substance is what matters. The, the expertise. And then, and that, and we're talking about like one-to-one information sharing, but even as a brand, you know, you've got to stand for more than just a feature set of your product. It's got to be, you know, stickier than that. And that takes time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
You build brand over time and hope for sales overnight. And so.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
It is amazing sometimes. I've worked with a lot of companies, good, bad, and ugly, over the years in marketing. And it's real hard to take a... You can't make bad companies good. It's really difficult. You can make the good companies great, but it's really difficult to make bad. And I do think...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
you know, there's a lot of truth to be had and a lot of mirror to be looking in, you know, to really determining if your product service or what you do differentiates and stands out and can be made to be again, profitable. It seems like there's a lot of people that, you know, do things that a lot of other people do.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
And they just assume that like, I mean, success will be guaranteed, but it just doesn't happen that way.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
You know, you've got to believe to achieve. It's really fucking easy to be a hater and to not believe and to doubt and to critique. It brings me back to that statement.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
It might sound cliche, but we all hear, you know, no one who's getting shit done at a higher level than you is sitting around, you know, talking shit about you or where you are or how you do it, you know, because they're too busy believing in what they're doing themselves. And optimism, belief, I put all that into the same thing. I think it's just, they've got a vision.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
They got a belief in something, you know, like whether it's investing in something, whether it's doing their own thing, whether it's taking it forward. Like if you're a believer, you just, you ain't got time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
I have like a mentor, you know, I like to say I'm a mentor, you know, but I do have one mentor. His name is Christopher Lockhead. He said he who owns the problem becomes the solution. So you flame the problem. He who owns the problem becomes the solution.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
So you don't have to, you know, we can talk about brand and all your features all day, but you got to talk about the customer's problem and own the problem so that you become the solution. because that's big. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Best of Right About Now: World class Business Advice for Entrepreneurs
wife happy life i think steven yeah steven got that right i know that was real what about like and i know there's more risk because i have friends that that are literally knee deep in this you know buying existing business you got all the baby boomers kind of ready to sell and you got a lot of these businesses that are cash flow positive and so i have some friends that are very heavy in that side of buying you know businesses that are already proven
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Wow. Jamie- You did some explaining there that's probably helped me wrap my head around the space of entities better than anyone that I've ever heard it from. And but it brought me to a question to see if I'm I know it's not just what I'm going to say, but I want to give it like a comparison to see if I'm tracking. It almost felt like.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah, exactly. In New York today. Is it New York, New York, Jamie?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
You know, an NFT being a logo, much like, you know, like the Nike swoosh that you license to use, you know, now anywhere and all that. In a way, I'm hearing the same type of thing with this, that it's almost like immediate one of one licensing of whatever that is created to be used and tracked anywhere it gets used. Am I tracking anything?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
But is it a physical object or a digital object? Is it disposable or consumable?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Oh, man, that's nice. I lived in Manhattan for five years. I didn't even know that existed. It's a great place. I grew up in Westchester.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah, well, when you live in both places, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
It's fascinating because, you know, you think of I think of these spaces as sandboxes where you build what you want. There's no real cost other than your time. What you're introducing is actually the opposite in a way. Not that you can't build it, but it's the value that it has and carries forward like the transaction of digital things passing one to another.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
So there's scarcity versus unlimited creation.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Okay.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah, it's interesting. It's like a book with revisions at all times, right? I mean, it's never done. It's a living book. It's a living book. Part of me goes down this content. We're creating content. Right now, we're creating some evergreen marketing business, vibey, whatever you want to call it, content that lives on forever, but it won't change forever. but you necessarily.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
So I think what we're talking about that is a world that does evolve.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I want to set the table. You know, we've tried to get out of the business. You know, a lot of people's stories are out there. I'm sure you do podcasts and stuff. So, you know, we could do a 40-minute episode about every, you know, the history of Jamie Schwartz. But you're doing a lot of cool shit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
But let's do set the table for our audience and, you know, give them a little bit of the theater of the mind of your background, Jamie.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah, and unique because the world used to be creators that didn't really want anyone to create with them, right? It's like, get out of my sandbox.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yes. Point made and already observed. Talking with Jamie Schwartz, he is the founder of Brand Therapy, co-founder of TeamFlow Institute, and a lot of other cool shit that we mentioned at the beginning. But Jamie... how do all these companies blend together? I know there's, you know, brand therapy might sit over here a little bit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I know it's probably related, but, but I can, I see just by naming alone, the team flow parallel marked art, like how, how all these universes working together.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
What... I don't know why when I go to decentralization, my mind goes back to the metaverse. I mean, I know that's not exactly it or the only place, but Jamie, what happened? Was it just that with NFTs and the metaverse and a lot of this sort of digitization of assets and a lot of stuff you're talking about, Did it just get escalated too quickly by the pandemic?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
People were home and able to think about this shit too much and it went so fast, but we weren't quite ready for it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I never thought I'd see that day. I mean, I've been an entrepreneur for eight years, but I think you're right. I mean, it's... I hadn't thought about it that direct before, and I haven't had to because I've just been the entrepreneur, but Chris and I both are. But that's an interesting thought. I agree.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
What gets you most excited, Jamie, about all the stuff you're working on? I mean, you know, we're talking about a lot of high level shit that I think you're simplifying. Like, what do we need? You know, like telling it in ways that people understand it. But like of all the stuff you're working on and the human application of it, what gets you the most excited?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah. Part of me believes that, Jamie, and then part of me is like, are we really that altruistic? I don't know. I'm a cynic.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah, it's true. I've definitely gotten more that way. I mean, as I've gotten older. I guess I'm always just a little cynical.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
That's the Holy Grail, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jamie Schwartz.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
The Holy Grail. Damn. Chris, any questions or thoughts with Jamie as we're wrapping up here a little bit?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I love that. Don't question what you're doing. Co-legacy building, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I like that word, co-legacy. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
That's, yeah, I'm deep in thought. Jamie, I haven't, you know, like a lot of times I've guessed on and I like what they're talking about, but I don't get as deep in my head. So that's a compliment. Same.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Jamie, where can everybody keep up with all the projects, everything you're doing and learn more about philosophy? A little bit of everything. Then get some therapy.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
.coach. We'll have links to all of Jamie's company's In the show notes and all online at each of our websites, we're probably going to throw this on both platforms, at least right about now, probably websites too. I think there's crossover here with mindset and just, I don't know, the co-creation, co-legacy building and all that. So I think there's a lot of synergy here, Jamie.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Really respect what you're doing.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah, Jamie, I'd like to have you on, man. I think you could be a really great, you know, semi-regular guest or something. Don't do that a lot, but I think you have a lot to offer.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Hey, guys, you're going to find us, ryanisright.com and vibescience.com. You can find all the links, highlight clips, all of Jamie's information, where to find Chris and I on social media. We're hanging out on the old IGs. You can get all up in those DMs at any time you want. We love you, baby. We'll see you next time. All right, bye now.
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The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I love it, man. I love the name, The Brand Therapist. And I have this vision of CEOs on leather couches and you talking, them talking all the problems out.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah. And they need somebody to counsel them, right? Yes. Oh, my God. To both counsel them and to hear them a little bit, right? Isn't it both?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. Or should I say, Right About Now and Vibe Science. You know, this is the great thing. The platform is radical. The Radcast Network. We just do radical shit. We're just two in one. Especially, this is how good we're getting. When the talent level that is coming to our front door is this solid, we're going to put him on both shows.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
That's what a lot of people of agencies didn't realize. They just want to talk over it, you know, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yes, I know. Let me ask you this. One question, just marketing guy to marketing guy. You and I have come up through it and I hear there's a lot of, I don't know, people that love brand and people that detract brand that say, you know, they don't get it because they think brands like too ethereal to out there versus the outcomes. We've moved into this performance marketing world, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
And I'm living through it. And the art, you know, I have a mentor, Christopher Lockhead, who says, you know, branding's for, you know, you know what. And because he just believes, you know, if marketing isn't driving the bottom line and most brand isn't, And a lot of times because, you know, I could argue with that. Yeah. I'd actually love to see the two of you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I might have the two of you on the show one time. It would be awesome. I'd be right there in the middle where Chris is on the screen, like, you know, playing both sides. Cause I think there's truth on both sides. So I've leaned more towards where you are, Jamie. And, but how do you, how do you respond to what's happened the last 10 years?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Again, entertain me just for a minute here on, on this being marketing, you know, with, the performance marketing versus branding and the role of each and how it's really, I don't know, clouded a lot of people's minds, I think.
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The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah.
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The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
And when I go down this list and when he starts talking, you're going to know what I'm talking about. We're talking about he is and holds the world's oldest NFT patent. He's the co-founder of TeamFlow Institute, the co-founder of ParallelWorlds.us. the founder of marked.art and.dj, and the founder of one of my favorite names for a branding company, Brand Therapy. He is Jamie Schwartz.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah. Good explanation. And it's been a race to the bottom, and I hate it. That's the one thing. I got out of the rat race. I mean, I own an agency, but I got out of the rat race of... you know, New York agency life. But the one thing I do still champion is creativity. And I don't know the art that that is.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
That's the one thing I hate that's kind of taken the nosedive with the race to the bottom of, you know, outcomes today versus outcomes over time. Not everyone's buying today. If you are building that resonance and top of mind awareness and intent, it's not to definitively trigger sale today, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah. You're doing a lot of cool shit, Jamie. Chris, this guy's got the first patent, the world's oldest patent on NFTs. I mean, Chris, you got into NFTs, right? Yeah, I'm seeing a good amount of them.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Sharing our cards. Yours are a little older than mine.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
I need some Topps introductions because I'm doing a series on sports cards. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Fleischman or whoever. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
What's up, Jamie?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The Shift in Digital Ownership: Exploring NFTs and Brand Therapy with Jaime Schwarz
Yeah, he is a Gemini. I like the word Gemini. Why is that word fun to say?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I love it. So let's talk about, I'm going to ask you two questions. Our listeners, and we're going to couch this as small business owners or soon to be after this episode, small business owners. One thing. they should stop doing and one thing they should start doing. If I'm a small, they likely aren't. I know we, look, we got, you know, 800,000 downloads a month on this show.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Like, so we got a lot of people, probably a lot of different things that they may or may not be doing that you don't know, but they come to you. What's the one thing you tell people to stop doing the most?
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Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Yeah. What do we need to stop doing if I'm a small business owner?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I'm going to boil that down, Mark. That's what I do. I'm a marketer. You need to be the CEO of your tax team that you start building today. And so your accountant is on the team, but you're the CFO, CF, CF or CEO. Yeah, both, both of the team. And you have to think about it that way because you cannot just like your own business. I've got, look, I've, I'm an auditor. I own five companies now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I've gone down this road. I try to delegate the business away. It doesn't work. Good luck. It doesn't. That's why you get in trouble. I've been in. I've got all the scars. I've done it too. You cannot delegate. The taxes, you need to be the CEO of your own tax team. It might be a two-person team, three-person team, but that's what I just heard you say. I think we try to delegate the taxes away.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
When I started reading your stuff and talking to your people, I was like, this is a rare breed here. But it makes sense.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Yeah. Anyway, so we've got to start owning and being involved and being the CEO of your tax team. You don't have to do it all. CEOs don't do it all, but you've got to be involved and you've got to because ultimately this is what it crystallized for me. And I've gone through this myself is like thinking through.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
The opportunities for the write-offs and other things, there's just things that the accountant's not going to know. They're not in your business every day. They don't know how this was used or that was used, and a receipt's not going to tell them that. And so you have to be involved.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Yep. I love that. That might, that might fall on the, what they should start doing. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Stop, stop delegating, start documenting. I got to write that down. I got to write that down. Stop delegating, start documenting, you know, the interplay, you know, I mean, can you hear me now? This is what I do, just write things. I like it. What else should we be doing, Mark?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I mean, a lot of people, obviously documenting, taking control. What are things we need to start doing?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I love that. I love that. Mark J. Kohler. He is Main Street's tax lawyer, tax advisor, and lawyer in one. I don't want that to get confused. You got to know that before you leave this episode. But Mark, I love that. I'm going to start giving my kid. I got four boys all under the age of 15. Oh my gosh, dude.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I'm doing about one fifth of what you just said. I, uh, so, uh, notes taken and that I'm not the only one. I mean, I'm doing it. They know daddy works. They're integrated. They come. I make it clear. They do things. They're doing a lot of what you said, but I'm not following it the way you're describing. So, uh, Ryan offered needs more color on.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Oh, God.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Sorry, I got a little off the chart there. That's all right. I love it. I think I'd approach my accountant with, you know, why are you doing this? I like to approach mine, you know, kind of like my wife. I like to come with sugar, not the salt. You know, like, hey, baby, you know. So I'm going to go to him gently. There you go.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
He'll bring your clients. You know what? I think Duolingo, it's not Spanish, it's not French. We need Mark Kohler on the Duolingo. the newest language to learn. Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Yes. I love it. Let me ask you one thing as we close out, Mark, talk to me because there's these fine lines between law and finance and tax and all that. And I know you're not a financial advisor, but something tells me a lot of these things are all tied together. Where do you fall on the crypto bus?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I'll answer those questions.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Yeah, me too. I saw that today. It's up like 10%. I bought it like 60 cents like four months ago.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
You're not making a specific... And that's why I didn't ask because I wanted you to... We both like XRP, obviously. However, we're not saying go buy XRP. I'm asking you for exactly how you answered, which is more... How the tax world and setting it up properly and all that sort of thing, which you kind of nailed. I mean, it's obviously that could be a whole show in itself.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Maybe that'll be part B. Yeah. Mark.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Hey, man, I love it because you know what, Mark? And we talked a little pre-episode this, but you know how many times I've asked the question of my accountant? You'd have to consult your lawyer on that. Because look, I like to push the limit. I can admit it. It doesn't take long to figure that out about me. But I want to do it legally. I want to get all I can get out of it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Mark, what fuels you? There's this abundance of energy. Obviously, neither one of us are sheep. But you're obviously not watching Netflix reruns. But I always like when I see successful people, I end up asking this question. I've asked Grant Cardone. I've asked a lot of people. And everybody has a different spin on it. But what fuels you? What drives success for you?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Exponent is the official sponsor of Right About Now. And they have no artificial flavors, no artificial anything, plant-based adaptogens. I like that. I'll send you a case of this. I love it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
The devil's in the details. And, Mark, you're on it. Hey, Mark, work your way. Keep up with what you're doing.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Hey, Mark. My pleasure, man. We'll do it again if you're up for it. And we'll have show links to all of Mark's stuff. Mark J. Kohler. We need more Marks. We appreciate you, brother.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Hey, guys, you're going to find us, RyanIsRight.com. You'll find highlight clips, links to Mark's stuff, and, of course, social media. That's where we're growing. That's where we're blowing up. And check us out on YouTube. You've got to watch this episode. Mark looks so good. We'll let him forgive the rock star, but, you know, we'll get him on the exponent. We'll get him switched.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
But we appreciate Mark for bringing it from Main Street to your home. We got you next time, any time, right here on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about how to get right and what's working now. I can tell you about what the future is. I can tell you about the past is. But we want to tell you how to get ahead now. We're going deep today in business. We're going to tell you. And we're dealing with a one percenter. I'm telling you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
What's the most common thing you deal with, Mark? You know, working with Main Street, working with small businesses everywhere. Like what are those commonalities, you know, business to business? I think, cause I think, I always think there's, there's knowledge and trends and numbers.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
And so when you get asked a lot of the same questions, when you deal with a lot of the same challenges, I tend to think that brings knowledge to our listeners. What are some of those key things that you're always sort of tackling or working with clients on?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Yeah, it is. That's true. It's a very simple statement, but it's very Trump's earlier. Yeah, that's true. It's because it's not always easy to make it. Let me talk to you about this, Mark. You know, they talk about tax brackets, right? Okay. And I think some of this terminology, you know, W2s and X bracket, if you're self-employed and small business owner, like what's the lead?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
So we got both a rare breed and we got the main street coming right to you. It is Mark J. Kohler. He is a tax attorney. He is the main street tax attorney. And he's going to tell us today how to get it all right. Because, look, we've got to put more money in your pocket, baby. That's what we're here to do. What's up, Mark?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
And there's always the talk, you know, like, especially like three or four years ago, but like Trump plays like an effective 8% tax rate or whatever it was, you know? But for the average small business guy and even the W2, because we have people that are both, they're listening to our show that are small business owners and that maybe are W2 thinking going small business.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
What's the least you could truly get away with like legally, you know, doing it the right way, but like what kind of tax brackets should the average small business guy be in?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
We sort of, like you said, the rich geek out on it, and everyone else – almost criminalizes write-offs. Do you notice that temperature, how that's changed like the last 10 years? Like it's almost like people put it in this camp of like, and criminal might be strong, but like you'll be talking to someone unethical. Exactly. That's the better word. And why the hell does that proliferated?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
So important. Yeah, man. Look, we want to give actionable advice. Ultimately, we have a lot of people on and our focus this year in 2025 is how to get ahead in all things. And look, small business is the fabric of the U.S., You know, we could talk the high end. We can talk the low end, all this. But we're talking like that is what drives America is small business.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
I led the way that was hard. I led the witness. I led the witness, Mark. I tend to do that. Like you went right where I wanted you to go because it's the truth. That's what the truth hurts sometimes. It's like, but I do think that's what's happened is it's been criminalized or, you know, bad mouth or what? All right. You know, he just writes all things or he's cheating the system or whatever.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
And it's like. there's a difference between cheating the system, which is why I love that you're a lawyer too, cheating the system, because we got to talk about these things and I know that a lawyer is going to tell me what's legal, what's not legal, is cheating the system and using the system. Yes, dude.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
Win, win, win. That's the whole thing. It's not what we've been conditioned by media or whatever else, which is win for me, lose for the government, breaking law, pushing the limit. No, like you said, it's set up because people smarter than me knew that we needed actions to make this country run because everything that you named, Mark,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
actually drives an action that keeps the economy and everything else moving, doesn't it? It's crazy.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
reliant on natural resources and everybody wins and you're the bad guy because you found this kick-ass tax strategy you know yeah but it's right i'm right i'm not crazy right like i'm no that it that the proliferation of the you know the wealthy getting ahead or all that i got that's a real thing and it that drives me crazy Dude, you're a lion. You're not a sheep. You're a lion. That's it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Small Business Tax Tips To grow & Keep Wealth in 2025 with Mark J. Kohler
And I love what you're doing, Mark. I love the mainstream approach, podcasting, author. We're going to have all the links to Mark's stuff. We got he's got more shit going on than you would believe. But it's all about helping the main street. So, Mark, set the table for us, man. I mean, how the hell did you get one percent lawyer and a tax guy all at once? It seems like the perfect combo, though.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
It's great. It's great. Devorah, you are that person, right? Do you want to charge me more or do you mind? Do you want to charge me more? Please.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
You have a lot of job security because, you know, you know what I just heard? Devorah is and it's very true that the it depends word.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
is it it's so unique to every different brand and every different category and i know this instinctively but i almost forget it too because i think we all like to paint with broad brushes and make statements like tv is dead or facebook is dead you know i've been hearing facebook's been i've written those trends i've written those trends reports by the way But the truth is, but it depends.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Because depending on your product and depending on the categories of consumers that buy that product, they can be very promiscuous in one but brand loyal in another.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yes.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of inputs.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah. And that's why you got to get underneath it, like to know that. Within your own product and your own category, what are the media, what are the thought process, what are the problems that you're solving or not solving? It's frustrating because we want, and we've been chasing, especially, which is where I want to go next, or is attribution. Ultimately, that's right.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
You know, like the old Pepsi saying, or I forget who says it. I know that 50% of my marketing works great. I just don't know what 50%. And we've been chasing that attribution game. And how do you... Where do you fall on that? Because, again, the hand raisers on Google, SEO is important. They're searching for you, and it gets a lot of credit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
But did my friend down the street, good old-fashioned word of mouth, put it in my brain? And so who gets credit? And how do I know what to do more of?
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Artificial.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Small brands, you know, I know that the techniques and online have probably brought the scale. I mean, I just remember what it costs. You know, I've been in a focus group in 12 years, but like it was it's expensive, you know, like research and stuff. So but how to I mean, I guess the online equations probably made it more attainable. But it has. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah, exactly. It also brings me flashbacks of focus groups in New York sitting there talking to people about Test Man and Can You Hear Me Now, which was one of the first campaigns I worked on back in the day for Verizon. If you worked in New York and you didn't work on Verizon at some point, then you just didn't cut your teeth right. But are focus groups still a thing?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Did you tell him to take it with a grain of salt what he learned in those conversations or do you think they were meaningful?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Okay.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah, I remember that is a random question. You're doing a lot of research, different clients, different things. And I'm sitting here saying we can't pay with a broad brush, but I'm going to ask you a broad brush question. Mm hmm. What's a medium or a tactic or something that might surprise people listening that is popping up over and over again in the influence or magnitude that it has?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Is there something? Yeah, just marketing, you know, maybe it's a channel. And I mean, so what might it be?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
It hasn't hurt our numbers, and I have a potty mouth.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Oh, talking with Devorah. She is the research poet. Devorah, back to this attribution game, who does get the credit? I mean, like, how do we answer that what 50% is working or not working?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
it's just applying the percentage and the scale. So then it's like, okay, we know that this has impact at some level, which research that you could help them with would tell. And some portion of that makes up, I don't know, 100% of the impact. Or 90%. It's probably always that ambiguous 10% that we don't know. Cousin Eddie told them about it or influenced them in the projection.
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What's the biggest problem you've solved? Like, and like, When you think about it, every client's your baby, I know. So we don't have to call it. But, you know, divorce is a big deal. I'm telling the audience this. And so she's worked with a lot of big brands. She's smart as hell.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
I want her to brag a little bit, but also to, you know, the types of problems that you've solved and the scale and maybe what your research drove as a change.
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It's heavy. It's in the ass.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
How much of the zero moment of truth? That's what we're talking about with ZMOT. And if you go Google that, if you have it, it's a big one of the most widely read research studies of all time. How much of that still is in play? A lot. Feels like it.
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You did. You did. And it made me think, you know, when you're saying that, I tell people all the time that TV is not the radio because I don't know that people aren't watching it, but their head's down on their phone. So they're hearing ambient, the messages that are there. So it has an impact. Sure.
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Yeah. We the agency research, we always go with the best names of shit. It's like it just sounds important, but it is important. And that's why I was so thrilled, you know, when your people reached out and it's. For our audience, it's important for people to kind of know what the sentiment of today is. What's motivating shoppers and consumers? How does one learn what's doing those things?
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That is powerful. I was just thinking we're doing a little segment on sports or trading cards because they're so huge in our news segment. And I've been opening like packs on the episode. I think about what's going through my head. It's like legal gambling. You know, you're looking at opening.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah, and my kids. I've gotten back into it because I have four boys, and they're all into it. So I'm teaching them business through this lens. They didn't care about anything I did, so I'm helping them create a business out of it. I love it.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Oh. Yeah. She knows what she's doing. Last thing before I let you go, Devorah. I mean, all this has me kind of in this mind of the, is the purchase funnel down. I mean, we have the purchase funnel and the purchase cycle, like whatever you want to call it, it's still there, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I mean, you still have to get awareness and then intent and then consideration and like in some way, shape or fashion, even if it's always moving, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I like that crystallized something for me, thinking about the influence. A certain stage or a certain tactic might be considered a consideration tactic, but its influence might be greater depending on the person. Am I hearing that right?
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Devorah, you're a smart lady.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Hey, it's fun. Fire in the zoo. Influencing shopper decisions and her TEDx's are blowing up. You got to go check them out. She's smart. She's teaching brands what they need to do and more importantly, what not to do. It's complex at the end of the day. That's what I think we need to take away. But it's unique. It's attainable to know, but you have to kind of clear your mind.
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Like I have to do this myself. I consider myself a bastion of willingness to change. But it's just there's a lot of complexity, a lot of different influence, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming. And I feel like that's what you crystallized today, either with your brilliance or just at least crystallizing it in my head. So I really appreciate it, Devorah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Where can everybody keep up with you, what you're doing, books, et cetera?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
That's not positive, but, but, but we need to be aware of it. You know, you can't put your head in the sand and I think brands and companies can go a long way by avoiding the divisiveness and maybe just being a little more positive.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
What are the techniques today? What should we list? And sometimes when I have brilliant people like you on the show, it's like, almost what you don't do and what you don't listen to sometimes, because I feel like the inputs can be so confusing now because the channels are at, that's the thing that just blows my mind with you doing what you do.
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Yeah. Well, people do love dogs and their animals or their whatever they are.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Ah, I like it. Okay. Puppy parties. It is puppy parties for the win. Devorah, thank you so much for coming on.
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Hey, guys, you know where to find us, ryanisright.com. You'll find highlight clips, all of the episodes, and our YouTube links, and, of course, where to find our guests, her amazing books, and information on everything that they're up to. We appreciate you for making us number one. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I think about what I did 12 years ago, then the inputs felt complex, but they weren't, you know, now it's just like so many, how do you balance all of it?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah, and that's the thing that's interesting that I really want to dig under. I've watched these worlds with – I came up in what I feel like was a great mecca of brand marketing, you know, like the importance of that, of building brand over time and the resonance of that and reaching frequency and all of these things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And then, you know, kind of in my in-between land, the last 10 years of owning an agency, but kind of being on our own planet, you know, and doing podcasting and all that. Performance marketing, the savior of all things came in, right? Which I rolled my eyes a little bit, drove me crazy. I'm like, you know, you can't drive a sale until someone's aware of you.
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And last time I checked, you have to play that game too. But what's been your perspective the last 10 years? I want to turn to more specifically some of the nuances that you work in, but I just wanted to pick your brain a little bit. As someone that's in it with the consumer, the performance versus brand thing and the last 10 years of, hey, let's just scoop up all of the bottom of the funnel.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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But have we just completely lost our mind that we still have to build somewhere along the way the awareness and the consideration? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what you need to know now in business, even life sometimes. I'll give you some life advice, but I'm probably more the marketing and business guy. And that's why I like to bring the best
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
the brightest and some of the smartest people in the industry on the show and sometimes we venture back into like the things that i always was kind of had my hands in in the agency world less today with the podcast network but definitely you know keeping a pulse of what's happening in marketing and research and what brands are thinking about and ultimately you know i gotta go to the source that's why we got we've got the research poet
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Yikes.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
I love those. They think they're, like, fooling somebody. Like, they think they can do something, like, because we're just so wrecked. It's just so distinguished, you know, that people will get there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
The ivory tower of the creative department.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
So more sources than ever before, more knowledge than ever before. And I'm going to put, I think, implied words in your mouth. They know they're being marketed to. A hundred percent.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah. But do better.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
I have one of the few people I would call mentor, Christopher Lockhead in marketing. I don't know if you know Chris. He's a category pirates is his brand. He doesn't believe in brands. He just believes in category creation to where you carve out exactly what you are. You market the problem and you become the solution.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
I think that's a little bit of what you're saying with telling people about what you are. I agree with about 75% of it. I choose to believe that brand isn't dead. Yeah.
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Familiarity.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah. Comfort.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
I know. That's always my argument, too. I'm like, not everybody's going to be the category king. Even if they want to, they don't have – there's a lot of money. And I think Chris divides the line because he gets to work with the companies that he chooses to to help them carve out the category when they've decided they want to do that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
We have the Chief Strategy Officer of Alter Agents. It is Devorah. What's up, Devorah?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
But there's a lot of money to be made as the, you know, second person, second best in the category. And look, as somebody that's very competitive that doesn't like to play for second in much of anything, but at the same time, I do like to be successful and there's not all, first isn't always the goal.
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Yeah.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Pepsi does pretty good at second, right? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yeah. So exactly. But the brand thing is interesting, the familiarity. And I just always think, and you talk about in a lot of your studies and like a lot of the writings I've read from you, it's just like that. And the promiscuity is like the biggest thing is like, does it matter? It's single moment of truth.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Yes, appreciate you coming on. I don't always get to get my nerdy marketing hat on, but I kind of want to get it on today. Let's do it. In the beautiful LA Santa Monica area, correct? Yeah. Yeah. What is it? Is Alter is Alter agents. I mean, is it is it look, feel, act like an ad agency? I know you're not involved in the marketing campaigns, but in many ways, is my mind in the right place?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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you know, if that performance bug comes in and I'm going to the, you know, I'm keeping it simple here, like the store, but whether it's a luxury thing or not, luxury is a whole nother category.
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I mean, a whole nother thing, but you go in and I buy Arm & Hammer toothpaste, but if there is a half price deal on Colgate and that's a flavor thing, so I'm probably going down a whole nother road, but I think you know where I'm headed with this. It's like, Am I cheating?
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Yeah.
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Navigating Shopper Promiscuity Challenges in Today's Market with Devora Rogers
Ah, yes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I think that's where it falls apart, isn't it? The authenticity. It's like, okay, you can have this killer idea that grabs attention. But people can smell a trap from a mile away now. And if it's not, you know, it's not just taking suit off and putting on the polo. You know, you didn't fool me.
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No, yes. No, it's not. This is the business you need to know. And Steve is not going to drop anything but knowledge on us. But Steve, where are we today?
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This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
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I love the way you're teeing these things up. These are like all in my list of things that drive me crazy today. Short-termism is the greatest disease in marketing. It's the greatest disease. Performance marketing is the worst term and worst thing that ever happened to marketing. And look, I know that outcomes matter. We got to make the cash register ring. Marketing has to generate revenue.
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No one knows that more than me. but not everybody's buying today. Most people aren't. And people want to scoop up the bottom and keep scooping up the bottom to go to, you know, the people that are buying today, they want, I want, I got to have sales today, sales today, sales today. And I know I get it. No, but I sell, I have a five company, Steve, I got to sell a lot of shit.
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No, but, but you got to build brand or resonance or top of mind awareness or top of mind attention or to earn a the repeat comeback to get that business when they are buying. And this short-termism that we deal with today is the greatest disease in marketing. And it's not because we don't understand that outcomes and sales matter. It's just, you got to understand the buying patterns.
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You got to understand the sales funnel. And there still is a funnel, cycle, funnel, whatever you want to call it. And not everybody's at the bottom. Why is that so hard to understand?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Of all things.
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Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
I haven't been to Vancouver, but I need to, I, uh, I like the warm.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
I say this a lot. If I was at a Southern Baptist church, I'm the deacon in the back going, amen. Praise the Lord. When the pastor says something you agree with. That's an amen, brother. That's the highest compliment I can give you.
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My team says, I don't know. But I got to lean into my difference, Steve. That's what they say. But, Steve, how do we do this? So I think everybody's getting the premise. So how do we do this? What are the fundamentals? How do we be brave and how do we connect these dots? What – What drives attention? I mean, how do we do it?
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We're like 78 today. It's actually warm for us for February. We had the four seasons, but it's a beautiful day in South Carolina. But it's a beautiful day for everybody listening, wherever you are, whenever you are, however you're listening. I'm pumped because we talk about my favorite subject. Having a business show that is marketing-centered, I don't always talk about marketing.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
Let's go down that one a little bit. I want you to go down that one a little bit. Cause I think that's important detail.
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Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
It's a documentary about their founder. Yeah.
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Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
It's been sold a few times, I think, since then. Yeah. He was different. He leaned into it.
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Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
No, the business that's been now owned by who knows who. Yes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
But now I get to geek out a little bit. Steve, I mean, let's set the table for everybody. You wrote the book. You've got opinions on marketing. What the hell formed Steve Pratt's opinion on marketing? And what's been the lineage here for you, Steve?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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So are the riches in the niches? Am I hearing that? I know it was much broader and deeper than that, but is that true, the riches in the niches?
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I'm trying to, both with things that we do for ourselves and with other clients, leaning into that more and more. And finding what are those pockets. Because... I've fought it for a while, and I've probably built the back of this show on eight miles wide and an inch deep because I wanted to attract the mainstream to a marketing show. And it took time. You've done it. Yeah, but it took time.
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pretty profitable now but you know it's uh probably more profitable i love the pocket niches now and i think you know as we uh and when i'm working with clients i think finding those i don't know those diamond i wouldn't even say diamond in the rough but like just diamond pocket super consumers whatever you want to call them super fans and
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is where it's at because they're, like you said, they might seem niche and small, but they can add up.
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Yeah, that's right. For sure. That is for sure. Cause you go to where they are, you fish for the fish are, and you kind of know where, you know, and you're not, what are they spray and pray?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
That's in the Radcast Network playbook. That one. There you go. Yes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
I will. My team will add it in. We do add some sound effects here and there. We know old school. Look, I grew up with talk radio. So part of my shtick is probably being influenced by that. The sound effects and the overall, I don't know, banter that happens on talk radio. I love it. My dad listened to... Shit, everything from Rush Limbaugh to I don't know what.
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He wasn't even really a political guy, but I just remember hearing it on the radio. The, I don't know, gregarious nature that it has. I love audio.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
It is. It's really engaging when you've got great guests like Steve Pratt. He's the author of Earn It. Steve, who's this book for?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
Steve, I want to find a way to send a copy to every single show that comes on our network.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
because they need to read it and so i'll get someone on my team we're gonna figure out like a pipeline to automatically when we get to do shows that join i'm gonna i'm gonna pay for it and i'm gonna i want it set i want to like i want some automation set up here ai and everything when show joins earn it from steve pratt goes to them so you're gonna help me set that up
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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No, man. And if you're listening, we're going to have the links to all of Steve's stuff, his book. You're going to see this on my social media feed. You'll see the highlight clips from this show. But I'm telling you, this is the modern playbook for how to think about your content, your brand, everything. If you're in...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
If you're in the business of getting attention because you need to motivate, to sell, if you need an outcome, then you need to earn it. And that's why I really appreciate you coming on, Steve.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
Thank you so much for having me. It's a real treat. Yeah, man. I mean it. I want to do it again. I want to be on the list for future books, releases. I want to be on the media trail. Gary Vee called me. I need Steve Bratt to call me. Yeah. But for now, Earn It is where it's at. And where can everybody find more about you, where to get the book, all those things, Steve?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
You just go to my website, stevepratt.com. Super easy. Hey, that's easy to remember. We'll have that in the show notes too. P-R-A-T-T. Steve Pratt, author of Earn It. Steve, it's been a pleasure getting to meet you officially. And I'm a big fan.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
Yeah, for sure. Hey, guys, you're to find us. RyanIsRight.com. That's where you find all the highlight clips, the full episode links to Steve's book and where to learn all about what we're up to. Hey, we're brave, baby. We're going all in because we're keeping you up to date on what is now. We'll see you next time on Write About Now.
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This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about now, not about yesterday, not about the future. Because look, it's about what works today in business, in marketing, and in life. We cover the gamut. And look... I get to choose who I want on this show. And that's what I love. Steve and I were just talking about this. And our next guest is someone that I've admired from afar.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
It's like the most used word, but the most appropriate word in marketing content. It's like we all hear it, I think. But it is what it is. Whether it's a podcast, whether it's social media, whether it's, I don't know, video, audio. I mean, it's all content. Some good, some bad, some brave, some not, some safe. And I think that's what it's about.
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Yeah. I mean, choice is amazing. And back, you know, 15, 20 years ago, maybe even 25 years, I'm starting to age, Steve, I don't know about you, but, uh, uh, My years are still ticking. I can't seem to keep it in pause. But, you know, you had so many channels to watch on TV.
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You know, being a guy, sports for me for the most part, but you have your other cable channels and smartphones barely existed. And Definitely didn't have the video and data bandwidth that we have now that enables all of these things. I tell people all the time I was a pioneer of enablement, working on smartphones in 2007 and 2008. But the throughput.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And now, like you said, you've got so many choices. You either... And I've been playing with this notion, Steve, and I think you'll get it. It's similar to yours. It's kind of like either you're getting turned on or you're turned off as a brand and as content because people get to choose. And that's really what you're talking about, isn't it?
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I have literally, I'm a creative guy. I mean, I haven't sketched the on button for our like relaunch of our company, Radical, like on the brand with an on play button. And you either get choose to, you know, like it's that simple, right?
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Oh God, it's so hard. It's crazy how much competition there is. There's just unlimited content. And that's what I love about your book and the tenets of it. You got to earn it, baby. I mean, we all, it was, hey, back in the day, TV commercials, there's nothing else to watch. There's no phone, distracting.
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Because now I make the joke, the TV, if you have one, 18 to 34-year-olds may not even fall in this. We might be talking 35 to 55 or 35 up. The TV is the radio and the smartphone is the television. Like that's where I think audio is actually more important in TV. Like, cause your head's down.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I don't know Steve. You're going to get to know Steve today. So am I. But I've been reading his book and going through it. And a lot of people I know pointed him my direction. And I'm like, This guy knows his shit. And you know what? You're going to know his shit, too, because he is Steve Pratt. He is the author of Earn It, Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers. I hope I'm brave.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
18 to 34-year-olds listen and watch podcasts more than they do linear TV.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I mean, they're choosing what they want, when they want. And brands and people and anyone that's trying to market or get scale has to ultimately earn it. Steve, talk to me about the book. Talk to me about the tenets of really the fundamentals that you've put in this and what it takes to be brave.
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Yeah, and you nailed it. The problem I see, and this is where the bravery comes in. Outcomes, business outcomes versus entertainment versus gifts, you know, whatever that looks like that earns their attention, you know, because you got CMOs and CEOs under more pressure than they've ever been under. So it takes real chutzpah, real bravery to put yourself out there and know that the outcome is,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I'm going to learn today if I really am. Steve, welcome to the show.
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comes along if you get the right kind of attention. And I frame that specifically around the right kind of attention, Steve, because in one of my mentors in this, I wanted, you know, Christopher Lockhead, the godfather of category design. I believe in 80% of what Chris believes in. He's a little bit stubborn, and I love him. Because I believe... He's a category pirates guy, right?
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Yeah, category pirates. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
He's been on two... I have had... I think two guests on twice. Out of 600 episodes, he's one of them. Talk about smart action, just like you, Steve. I can see multiple with you because you got it, dude. The bravery is here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
This fine line of business outcomes and getting attention Where do you fall on this? Because, you know, CMOs are all this pressure. They got to be brave to grab that attention, but then they got to get a business outcome. Again, and I'm only bringing Chris up because we've had this argument, you know, like getting the attention doesn't necessarily generate the outcome.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
If I'm just getting attention, then I've just got attention and attention is fleeting. Where do you fall on this pendulum, Steve? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
We're giving the shit to business. And look, we take the bullshit out of business. That's our tagline. No BS. No, there you go.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
The first one, you've got to believe to achieve. It's really fucking easy to be a hater and to not believe and to doubt and to critique. It brings me back to that statement.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
It might sound cliche, but we all hear, you know, no one who's getting shit done at a higher level than you is sitting around, you know, talking shit about you or where you are or how you do it, you know, because they're too busy believing in what they're doing themselves. And optimism, belief, I put all that into the same thing. I think it's just, they've got a vision.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
They got a belief in something, you know, like whether it's investing in something, whether it's doing their own thing, whether it's taking it forward. Like if you're a believer, you just, you ain't got time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yes. And I love it. I, I use this quote all the time with building brand and, you know, people talk about, you know, you know, we help people with podcasting and personal branding and that stuff for one of my companies, my agency. And I talk about it all the time that, you know, you have to have consistency doing tactics and strategies without the proof of definitive success.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
And it is exactly that. Like you have to, you keep grinding, you keep doing, you keep stacking it. And then, because once you have the proofs of success, it's obvious, right? The hard part is, and what, again, we're kind of building towards some themes here is like, you know, people don't have the kind of like, they need that reassurance. They need to see it. They need evidence at all times.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
You know, we're conditioned to need immediate feedback. And the ones that really get there are the ones that have the tolerance to And it's not because, look, we're all, you and I are a little ADD. We're not exactly patient people, probably. But at the same time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
And you don't, you can kind of, you have to be willing to kind of throw the chips in without knowing exactly what you're buying. But you have belief in it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Talking with Matt Higgins, co-founder, CEO, the CEO of What's Next. I've given him that title.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Don't put on my radio voice. Talk to me about... What are we working on today? Let's talk here in the now. We talked a little bit pre-episode. What are the things that are at the front of Matt Higgins' mind today?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
I love that, man. I love it from all different fronts. Number one, the business. Number two, the vision. The willingness to stick with it without proof. And then, hey, fighting the good fight for our men and women of the U.S. that we lose track of or lose sight of probably more often than we should. And keeping innovation at home instead of sending it abroad.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
It's more important than we realize.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
that contract with the government, like what it's ultimately, what the value of that contract is over, you know, three, five, 10 years.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Valley of death. That's not where most investors want to be, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
But at least on each one, though.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
You have a singular focus on each one and the strategy is a focus in itself for each thing. You might be in 20 ventures but each venture You got to have focus. You got to have – and that singular focus bears results ultimately, I think.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
If you look back, Matt, over everything you've done, What's a word of advice you would have given yourself 20 years ago like that now? Because you've you've figured it out at a high level where a lot of people don't ever get to. But there's probably not things you do different, but maybe just advice or counsel you might have given yourself. What would have been?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
I mean, Matt, I don't want to oversimplify it, but when I think about what you just said and I think about burning the boats. it's almost like if you have a plan B, you don't have a plan A. And it's like, because the risk and the reward that comes from sticking to or, you know, your gut, and like you said, starting production on something, you got to go all in.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yes. You said dollar cost average a bunch and I'm, and we have a very, we have like a 25 to 50 year old audience. They're a fluid, but explain that to our audience. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
I love that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Exactly. Then you can just do a lot of things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yeah, do whatever you want, baby. Oh, Matt. Talk to me about where people can learn more about what you're doing, find your book, all that stuff.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
And I don't, you know, it's not because it's careless or reckless necessarily, but there's a certain chutzpah, I don't know, and grit, right? that I think comes from your background that I think probably drives you to that space. But I think we got a little bit of nature and nurture going on, don't we?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yes. Matt, you got a lot of like, I feel like this combination of practical advice combined with some risk-taking that we all need to kind of get our shit together. I think it's refreshing. I really appreciate you coming on the show.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Hey, man, you know where to find us, ryanisright.com. You know why we're right? Guys like Matt Higgins coming on the show. Check out his book, Burn the Boats. And you'll find me on Instagram at Ryan Alford. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always getting right. We're always talking about what's now, what's next, what's interesting. And look, I got the CEO of What's Next. He is the co-founder of RSCA Ventures. He is Matt Higgins. What's up, Matt? How you doing? We want what's now and what's next. Line them up. Knock them down. Let's go. That's what we're here to do, Matt.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
That's powerful, man. And it's the paranoid risk taker.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yeah, man. I've, lived, I think, a smaller version of that. I think you've been on a bigger stage in bigger places, but I have a similar mindset, and I think it's... I don't know what unlocks. You had a very specific thing that I think unlocked it for you. Because I get asked, I'll go on shows too, and I'll get asked, like, what unlocks? How do you unlock that?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
You know, what are your tips and tricks? And I'm opening that question to you. And I don't know, outside of something that happened, you know, you're either wired that way or you aren't. Or you have an event like you had, you know, that you pushed you into it. it's a tough thing to know exactly what that formula is that makes someone get to where they do those things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yeah. Yeah, he's exactly like you see him.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
You know, Matt and I, in full transparency to the audience, Matt and I were like brothers from another for like 20 minutes before the episode got going. I think we shared more background between Bitcoin and everything else. I was like, this is going to be good. I knew it would be good, Matt. We had it going.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yes. Yes. Yeah. I do have a, I don't know, a pretty natural gift and I give a shit, you know, about what other people think. Cause I know they're, I'm going to get judged no matter what.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
I might be somewhere in between. You might be like a little more regulated. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not quite as, I don't know, precious. We're talking about Mr. Wonderful, right? Mr. Wonderful. Yes, Kevin O'Leary. How was your experience on Shark Tank, you know, beyond Kevin O'Leary?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yeah. Do you think any of the Sharks have no intent on betting or going in and betting? I guess it is betting. Freudian slip. That's actually true. You know, investing, but just to pull someone else into a bad deal.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
I know. We got to bring it back around. So how's life treating you, Matt?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Yeah. I mean, I think for me, if I was them, it's just the brand play.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
Well, if you were going to as we move on to something else, though, but. Summarize for me the common attributes of the sharks. What are things that come to your mind, even though they're all different personalities, different things, but like you said, all working harder, all more vested than you realize, but those are all very successful people, yourself included.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
If you're thinking about what's the common thread for all of them, for someone that's
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Burn The Boats - Greatness Has No Plan B With Matt Higgins
You got your hands in so much, man. I want to set the table for our audience. I mean, you've been involved with NFL teams. You've got a million and one investments going on. I can tell we're talking Bitcoin. We're talking land and Abu Dhabi. We got what makes Matt Higgins tick?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Hey guys, another special edition of Right About Now. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. And look, it is the new year. I've promised you we're going to bring it. And I was going back through some episodes and literally this guy's right over my shoulder. Got my wall of fame here in the studio, Christopher Lockhead. He's the master, man. Master of category design. The master of telling you like it is.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
What do you read? What do you do? I'm kind of like, I drown a lot of it out. But there's one voice, one voice that literally 9.5 out of 10 is the closest thing to 100% there is in life. I said, you need to fucking go... Follow Christopher Lockett on LinkedIn. You need to fucking go subscribe to Category Pirates, and you know what? Send me $100 and thank me later. Thank you, Ryan.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
That's why I'm reflecting on what you just said, literally. And I think this is where a lot of your practical ability to... And we're going to talk about business and marketing. But I think this is what really, I think, encapsulates the brilliance of a lot of your approach and what you do. You talked about just some firebrand topics right there, some super... But...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
the thinking part of it and the reflective refractive, all of those, that aspect is the problem that channels through everything that drills down into business and marketing eventually. And I think that people can understand that because of how you just encapsulated it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yep.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
That's very kind of you to say. I know, but people know I don't blow smoke. I'm a nice guy. I got Southern charm, but I kind of tell it like it is in my own way, and it's the truth. 13-time bestseller, probably more than that now. Absolutely. Apple podcaster of the universe and the most legendary category designer I've ever fucking met. I could go on and on with the titles.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yep, and you know what? I gave myself, because I don't even take notes anymore, but when Christopher Lockhart comes on my shows, I give myself a few things, because I don't want to, I can't, you know why? It's selfish, because I want to get stuff out of you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I want people to hear what you have to share, and literally, you've gone down like the fucking, I have this word, it says languaging on my sheet of paper in order, Which is right down the path of what you're talking about. And I want to get into our digital, our native digital, native analogs.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
But I want you to go a little further down the languaging path because I think it's spot on right where you left it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
How about this word? Amen. Praise the Lord. Because I grew up in Southern Baptist Church. And, you know, when the preacher would say something, you're like, you know, you're wanting to support them. You go, amen. The deacons are going, hallelujah. That's me when I hear you talk about it. It's so true. And look, I'm going to call myself out like I do.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I'm going to stop blowing smoke because I want people to hear some of your brilliance. We've been talking, and I nod my head every day at the daily Bible verses I get from Lockhead on LinkedIn. Yeah. But but there's been a few topics of late. I want to get into them. But I do want to just first, Christopher, I mean, let's let's set the table.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I use these terms even more, and I have Christopher Lockhead in my head. I'm like using them, and I say them. And it's because I'm being lazy because I know people know what they think it means. And so I'm lazy, and I use it. But in the back of my head, I'm going, I've got to think of a different.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Way to say this, I got to language this better, you know, but then people are conditioned to know what they know, and so I guess I'm lazy in that regard, but I find myself doing it sometimes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Don't take our word for it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Exactly right. I mean, I grew up in the nucleus of the ad business, but is there a more self-absorbent bunch in the whole world? I don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
You know, what's been just gathering your attention, you know, with with the newsletter and with your team? And I don't know, I wouldn't mind maybe just getting a preamble of where you're at in the state of the world of business in general.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I listen to you talk about that all day. It's just so true. The words matter. And, you know, I'm going to encapsulate for everybody listening because, you know, Chris is, you know, brilliant, smart, and you're going to follow all his shit anyway. And hopefully you already did from me talking about him all the time. But encapsulating it all, he just did it there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
you know, embrace your different, find different, you know, challenge the norm. I mean, that's at the, at the end of the day, like I like to distill like potentially complicated things down. Like, and I, sometimes I, with you and like other things in the categories and all that, it's just like fucking embrace your day. And the thinking part, I just think we've got it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I don't know what the Renaissance is going to be in that, but I hope we can bring it about. Maybe just talking about it is what will help.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Chris, do we just want to jump to the end? Is that what it is? Because I heard you talk right there, and I'm trying to distill it, how people are. We just want to get to the end point. Instead of the journey that it takes to find common ground, we just want to get to the end point of, again, like you said, the actual negative thing that has all the polarization around it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
But there's like 30 steps before it, right? We just want to jump to the final conclusion that is so divisive, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
And that's the key. Americans hating Americans isn't good for anybody, if you're an American.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
You've made my life harder, my friend. I just want you to know that. Because I joked earlier, and I know I'm going to keep saying it, but literally, every time I'm in a meeting with a client now, and we look, I named my agency fucking radical. I didn't name it radical because I gave everyone in my agency license to call bullshit and to push the envelope when you name your agency radical.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
So there was some thought in that. However... I said never meeting now, and your voice is in my head, and I'm going, are we really?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
pushing it are we trying to you know are we speeds and feeds are we trying to be better than the competition are we trying to completely damn demand and fucking you know like literally and that practical thought though i think there's not enough of it and it's hard it makes you think it makes you work harder but it's not all supposed to be easy yes and in category design one of the thing one of our core tenants another one of the core tenants is reject the premise
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
And all right, I'm going to talk. I got to get the native digitals and native analogs. But last thing, one of the first exercises I went through,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
When I was in the ad game, this was in like 2000, 2001, and literally was worked on Verizon, and we taught one of our first campaigns, and there used to be this thing, I don't see it as much anymore, and maybe because we work with medium-sized companies, I'm not working with Fortune 10 companies like I did in the past. BDI and CDI, you remember that exercise? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Brand Development Index and Category Development Index. And I want you to hammer this home for me, but I thought I had this thinking back because when Verizon, when we were kind of kicking everybody's ass in 2000, 2001, and Can You Hear Me Now was one of the first campaigns I worked on, the premise was we had to develop the category.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
which was walking around with a cell phone that actually worked, you know, because, and we didn't, they did talk about their network and it became chess, it got worse and worse on the chess beating, but it was all about category design at the beginning with wireless, right? Because no one had fucking known, what do I do with a cell phone? Why do I need that? And so it was all category design.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
In your mind, should it just always be 100? Is it 100 to 0 category development versus brand development?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
All right, man. It's been plain sight, and it's smacking us in the face every day. And I was getting smacked around the last few years in certain meetings. And I didn't know what it was, but it was ringing in the back of my head. And then you distilled it so eloquently in the last year, 18 months. I don't know. I know you've been talking about it for a bit now, but... What's this wave, man?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
And he's not afraid to tell you your baby's ugly. You know why? Because it helps you get ahead. And that's what we're here today to do. Talk to you about how to get ahead with your marketing strategies because it's not time to play safe. It's time to play different. Own your different. Christopher's going to tell you like it is. This is the most action-packed episode we have had in years. Listen.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
We got native digitals and native analogs. There's so many implications. Let's hit it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
You can throw shade. Yeah, exactly.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yes. Really good emoji game.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I've heard that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yeah, yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
And it's so apparent, you know, like people probably just, you know, or anyone listening now was listening to you talk and they're going. And it's been in plain sight, but the brands are so freaking, they're not agile, man. And they're not, they don't get it. So unless they've got someone on their team, like feeding it and they think, well, let's just run some more organic Facebook posts.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
That's the solve. It's just so bigger than that. I mean, like, so like if you're counseling, I'm going to get, I'm going to get nitty gritty, Christopher. So, you know, we have some executives listen to this. I know, uh, So we're going to we're going to take them to school. Like, what are we your counseling brands beyond? OK, I need to run more Facebook ads.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Take it a level deeper of implication, maybe.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I thought you were going to say Doc Brown, like turning it into a time machine. But, you know, like Impact of Future 3 comes back with, you know, you just pour trash down in it. But that's cool, too.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Chris, let me ask you this, because I can't wait to dive into that last one. And I know that's going to be a lot of the meat of what we talk about today. But we live in such a world where... There's a lot of damn gray. And we've gotten to this point of drawing these hard lines, like you said, and it couldn't be more polar opposite than what reality is, which is there's nuance to everything.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Big, man. And the implications are so big. And I'm going to even, I'm going to distill it. Not Facebook ads, Facebook groups or Discord groups and or, and you know what? There was a second thing that I took away there. I'm a fucking Christopher Lockhead super consumer. I mean, I mean, you know, like who knew? I am.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I'm the living, breathing, you know, like super consumer for Christopher Lockhead and Category Pirates.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yeah. Yeah, you're right.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yes. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yeah, that's why you need pirate sauce.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yeah, my kids would. That's why when you get pirate sauce, I'm going to be the first one in line.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Brought to you by Radical. Oh, man. Get sauced on the pirate sauce. It's so good, man. I know I've taken you over time. You've been very generous, and I know we could talk forever, but I think you unlocked a lot for our listeners there. And the great thing is you're one quick delay for them to get more, I know. So let's tell everybody where to do that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
The simplest thing is just go to Lockhead.com. Lockhead.com. We'll have that and all. Yeah. And do yourself a favor. Go follow this guy on LinkedIn. It'll be the smartest move you make. Look, you might be listening. We have people all over the place. We're kind of the mainstream marketing and business podcast. We've got people all over the map. But the thing is, you'll learn from this guy. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
how the hell did we get, I mean, I know we could, there's been this fire brand of politics and other things, and I'm sure we can have a whole episode on this, but I, I just, I really value your mind. And so I like to, to, to pick at it when, when I have you here, but like, how the hell did we get here?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
As you heard on today's show, the passion, the energy, the knowledge, it transcends the marketing and the business, which is why I love Chris. And I'm going to keep asking on my show, and hopefully you'll be lucky enough that he'll say yes. I'll come back anytime, Ryan. Yeah, man. You know where to find him, lockhead.com. Search Category Pirates. You can find him anywhere on that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
And if you look, if you follow me, you'll hear it one way or another. You'll also see the highlight clips from all of these shows. Ryanisright.com. You know where I'm at, at Ryan Alford on Instagram, on TikTok, on LinkedIn, trying to break category design with Christopher in my head every day. Thanks for all you do, Christopher. Really appreciate you coming on. Thank you, Ryan.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I do appreciate it, brother. We'll see you next time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Like when we all know, like, I think if you have and you can like get someone discharged for half a second, they'll agree with what I just said, you know, but like, It's everything's charged. Everything's fired up. Like, how did we is are we just compounding? Is that what I don't know? What's your why? How did we get here?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Heed his advice. Own your different, own your category, and own the market. Enjoy. Appreciate you on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
Yes, I do.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Frameworks for Creating and Dominating your Niche Marketing Gold from Christopher Lochhead
I'm excited, man. We do a lot of interviews. I get to do a pick and choose. We're getting to do whatever the hell we want on the Radcast these days. And when I can have Christopher Lockhead on my fucking show, I am having him on. Christopher, what's up, brother? It's great to see you, big sexy man. Dude, I mean, it's funny. I mean, I've been in the business. People go, well, who do you listen to?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I, I, uh, I've actually been fixing up golf carts like in my spare time. I find it very in my, my, my, I go with a dad. It's like a master craftsman plays, plays eight instruments. He's a master craftsman can build anything. And I'm the, the idea, the writer guy I'm right. I'm a digital, like true, like that guy. I'm not the Mr. Hammer and nail, but I,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I have found therapy in like fixing up golf carts. I have no idea why, but it's something about working with your hands that is rewarding and learning to be a little handy. So my dad is finally, I think he was always proud of me, but there's a different level of proud now that I can turn the screwdriver and know how to wire shit. They're like, oh, that's cool. I love that. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
The golf cart thing is cool. You don't understand any of the other shit. Digital ads, Facebook ads, what? Branding? What's that? Yeah. Let's talk about the brand. Obviously, no bake. The product and what it is describes what it is. But when you think about your brand, I'm sure you guys have evolved in this. At first, it's like, hey, we're making cookie dough. You can eat that shit. Let's go.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Let's go. But now how how's that evolved for how you do think about the company and the brand and sort of your, I don't know, customer experience?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Like who has not had some. And you got to take a stand for what you are. You got that. You've got to define it. Like everybody wants to define you, but you've got to define it and stick to your guns. Like you said.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
23.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Talking with Jimmy Nobake Freeman. So, Jimmy, I would talk some numbers like, you know, I find fascination like we did a Valentine's thing talking about how many billion of this, how many pounds of that. How much cookie dough are we making? How many pounds of cookie dough are we making a year or a week? What's some numbers that would surprise and delight the audience?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah. Pretty insane. 20 to 40,000 a month.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Holy shit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
500,000 pounds of cookie dough a year upwards. Is that what I'm doing?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
What? Yeah. Does it smell like I would think that it would smell? Yeah. I think they're like when you make cookies. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah. It's that combo of sugar and butter.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
But I love it. Is this a mixing bowl that I could climb into? Like, is it that size?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I'm 6'5". You're pretty big, dude.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah, okay. Yeah. All right. So I can get in there and just start going to town. You know, I want to fresh my own personal badge. I'd like to make a badge and never get out of that. Swim in it. Exactly. That's what I've been thinking about. You talk about indulgent. That's the perfect word. This is my dream indulgence. When I really want to treat myself, it's probably some form of cookie dough.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Like be that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I don't want it in between. I don't want it like kind of at all. Like my wife and I joke, you know, we're both, Watch what we eat, but not anal about it. I mean, but we're probably, I don't know, more fit than maybe the average couples our age. But we always will say, is it worth the calories? That's kind of the thing.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
And we'll always, like, if we take a bite of something, we'll kind of look at each other and go, like, if she takes a bite of something, is it worth it? It's not worth the calories, you know? So I just don't mess with that in-between stuff. It's got to be all the way. Yeah. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
eating it because you're bored what's the biggest thing that surprised you jimmy jimmy no bake jimmy with this whole experience and running the company like you know there's always surprises everybody's any entrepreneurs you got their ups and downs the bus story is obviously great but like what's been like the 180 for maybe what you thought or expected the biggest surprise
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
My wife would agree with that. I started when I was almost 40, late 30s, and had all of those things, but still did it. I don't know if it makes me dumber or... I waited. But, you know, everything you said is true, though. It probably added stress to the whole thing because it's not easy. But when you're young, you do have time to... Look, we all have time to fail.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
There's a lot of steps in there that you left out. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Both ends of it. Surprising to get to one million and surprising how hard it is to get to ten. That's what I condense that down to, both ends. And it's true. It is. Scaling is harder than people recognize, even when you've got it sort of figured out. where are we headed, Jimmy? Like, you know, what's, what's going on?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I think you're in a capital raise, maybe doing some stuff, looking for some investment. Where are we at?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
It's not that you don't have time to fail, but it's usually less maybe...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
responsibilities or other people relying on you you know especially you and your wife being together or a couple or you know we'll get to that story but it does allow you a little bit more uh i don't know focus like i can't just pull all-nighters for five nights you know knowing well i've got to coach my son's basketball i've got to do this or that you know it's like the combined part of the pressure and the the amount of time you have to put into it right
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Are we acquiring other, other cookie dough brands or is it broader than that?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I got a new name. No breaks, no bake. No breaks, no bake. Let's go. You got to go fast. You got to keep moving. You got to keep growing. No breaks, no bake. That might be the title of the episode. It's fun, man. I love it. The Where can everybody find? How many places? We're like, I'm sure distribution's crazy if you're selling that much cookie dough. But where are we located?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Where's everywhere we can buy a no bag? Good question.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
So intentionally staying out of big box or big retailers. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yep. Makes sense. Indulge where you indulge. Smart. It's true, though. It is. I indulge when I go to the fresh market. I think of that as an indulgent place. So it aligns with the brand. Hey, look, on brand, on time, no breaks, no bake. Jimmy, where can I keep up with the brand specifically yourself and everything that you've got going with the capital raise?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah, I think you have to be to stick it through together, an entrepreneurial journey and just be an entrepreneur in general. You got to have a little bit of a crazy gene. I'm determined that that's true.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Jimmy, it's been fun. I appreciate you coming on. Let's stay in touch, brother.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah, we'll stay in touch. We've got to line up that delivery, though. I'm sitting here like, all I want to do is eat this can. It's not cookie dough, though. I'm going to work that out. You've got to get down to the fresh market. Oh, it's close. I will. Hey, guys, you know where to find us. RyanIsRight.com.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
We'll find highlight clips from today's episode, the full YouTube video, and, of course, all the links to NoBake. No breaks, no bank. And Jimmy Freeman, all his stuff. We appreciate it, Jimmy, for coming on. And we appreciate you for making us number one. We know you've got a choice, but you've got to keep it right here on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Oh, I'm definitely crazy. That's another story for another day. I want to talk cookie dough. And I will say when you're telling that little bit there, go listen to Dave Attell sometime. He has a really funny but nasty version of that. What happens when you wake up, you're at this, you wake up, you're at that. I like your life story. Anyway, funny and a little raunchy.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
But nonetheless, Jimmy, I got to know, like, obviously the nostalgia. I think you've already probably gave it a little precursor. But what what what in the hell made you go down the cookie dare?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what's now. We're talking about business. We're talking about marketing. We're talking about life. And look, sometimes there's stories behind the company. And, you know, there's a certain product. that kind of rang my bell when I was talking with him on LinkedIn. I was like, who's this Jimmy guy? Who's this Jimmy guy? What?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I got to ask. So I know we'll get to it, but yeah, do you get tired? Like, I don't feel like I'd ever, I might not eat it every day, but are you, do you still eat the cookie dough or does it eventually do all good things come to an end? I still eat it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
So like it's in the fridge. Oh God, that's me. I'd be snacking on that shit all day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I put my glove on and get my, you know, whatever you got to do to make it, you know, clean. The room is fine, but we need a snack on it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
And she gave me this look. How does NoBake not have cookie dough in the refrigerator? Come on. She was like, what do you mean we don't have cookie dough?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Oh, me. So the base, the first recipe, is it chocolate chip cookie dough? Is that the original? Yeah, chocolate chip's the original.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Cookie dough? Hell yeah. I'm going to talk to him. We got Jimmy Freeman. He is the co-founder of No Bake. What's up, man? What's up, man? How are you doing? I'm great. Look, I get to talk business stories and cookie dough. Are you fucking kidding me? This is what I do it for.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah. For eight years. What? How long? How many? Eight years? Eight years next month. Yeah. I mean, you and Megan must have a strong relationship to have made it through all of it. I mean, a lot of people listening probably have started business with their significant other and not made it or it been like hell. And yeah, I'm not saying it was rosy. We're going to get to some of that, I'm sure.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
But it says something about the relationship. It does.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
It's good, though, because if it works, having where you're mutually, it mutually benefits both of you pretty equally. If not, it should be, let's call it equally. And you have that built-in trust. And so when you have a partner, when they're not your partner in life and your partner in business, even when you love them and you trust them,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
They're the mutually separate paths of gain a lot of times. And so that's where you sort of get that trouble out of the way as long as the relationship is tight, which is what you had. So that's a good thing. I just want to get to the story of the bus down by the river. Yeah. I heard a school bus was somewhere involved in the story of No Bake, and we're talking with Jimmy No Bake Freeman.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
It makes it a lot better. I know. I know. Exactly. I don't have – my wife might argue with this, but I don't have too many vices. But cookie dough – you probably, since it's your company, wouldn't call it a vice. I just call it maybe a vice to my waistline in summer when I'm trying to show that one pack.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
I give everybody a pet nickname. That's yours now, Jimmy. I love that. Jimmy No Bake. I love it. Jimmy No Bake.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah, pretty insane. 20 to 40,000 a month? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Formulating Success: The Sweet Journey of NoBaked Cookie Dough w/ Co-Founder Jimmy Feeman
Yeah, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
This is not, hey, we're all life coaches these days, right? No, this is not, hey, got this course at Walmart and all that. No. No. This is a high performers, high performer coach. This is what I'm talking about. Rudy knows his shit and he's on our network because I love him. I love his passion. And when you leave today, you're going to know why. And Rudy, I mean that wholeheartedly.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Confidence creates confidence. It's amazing. You walk into a room with confidence, especially when you're making a sale or something, they become confident in you, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Bam. Boom. My good friend Bradley drops bombs. That was a bomb that just got dropped right there. I mean, Rudy, I like to summarize things. And I kept coming back to this every time while you were talking. It's like, something about the intersection of preparedness and confidence. It's like prepare, like preparation.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Like I know it's more, I know a lot of what you described is deeper than preparation, but We don't prepare enough. You know, like I think of the moments when I've walked into presentations and I've gone through it. I've practiced. I've got all the words, like you said, I've thought about, you know, I don't know if I thought about the high five win. I'm going to take that one.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
I'm going to do like high five win and run around the building naked five times. All that in one. I'm going to be thinking that in the head. But but it's. preparedness, like preparation. We do a lot of shit in life and in business that just doesn't get the attention of slowing down and preparing. And it might seem a little simple, but man, it's a big impact.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Yeah, man. We're about to go on fire here. This is a hot 30, guys. So I told you coming in January, the gloves were coming off because I'm not going to dance around. Look, I'm working on me too, baby. The mirror is right. I got mirrors on both sides of me in this studio. So don't ever doubt it. And Rudy's not afraid. Afraid to bust my balls, too. Just go ahead and tell you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
He's done it a few times. He's going to keep doing it because I appreciate him. I respect him. But look, we're bringing action today. We want to talk about high performance. Business is about high performance, but it's the right way. This is what I love about Reed. He's a lover. He'll love you through it. But damn, he'll get you there in the hardest, softest way possible.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Self-mastery. It starts, and Rudy has a show called The N Powered Life. And it really, we all, we want to externalize. It's this, it's that, or I got to have this, I got to have that, I got to, you know, but it's mastering oneself.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
But we want to take you to your highest level. And a lot of people listening, Rudy, are entrepreneurs, budding entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs executives, you know, 25 to 45. That's right in our sweet spot. So we know you're out there. We appreciate you for listening. And I, you know, I want Rudy to first, he's going to tell you, you know, what a little bit about himself, you know, Rudy's show.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
is where the power the performance and the change comes from and that's what rudy's doing i mean i'm just sitting here you know like every time i talk to rudy whether he knows or not like listening to one of his shows or having a phone call with him or like just now like hey i'm bringing this i'm trying to empower my audience and i'm sitting here going damn it i need to do better at that i can do better
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
And that's why I love it. He is the performance coach that you need. I'm telling you, Rudy, I know you're opening up a group. You've got some new things coming. Talk to people about how they can work with you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
We'll have this in the show notes. We'll link to whatever Rudy thinks is his best origin story episode is. And we'll have that in the show notes. Because you can get that anywhere. But we want to bring high performance attributes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Hey, if people recognize, you know, the people that Rudy's been working with and and the checks that they write for his brain, you know, I might sign up 10 of my friends for this thing because it's like it's unheard of. And Rudy, man, I love you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
I appreciate you for all that you're bringing to the world, your gifts and for being such a positive spirit and energy for me and for everybody that gets the The honor of knowing you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
But really set the table for the types of people you've worked with and what it's all about with working with high performers and just your background, just a little bit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Appreciate you. Yes. That's what we're talking about. We're going to have all the links to Rudy's stuff. You'll have that in the show links. We'll have social media with links to it. So you need to go do yourself a favor. Someone you love. Sign them up for this. And if nothing else, go listen to the Empowered Life podcast. It'll make you feel good. We appreciate you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Ryanisright.com, all the highlight clips, the full episode, links to Rudy's stuff, and where to find us. We love you. We appreciate you for making us number one. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
I love it. Concise and to the point. And I'm going to say something because Rudy nailed it. And anyone listening that's in marketing today will understand where I'm going here. And Rudy went, this is why Rudy's a world-class coach, because he used the buzzwords that matter. And I'm going to go to revenue.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Look, we can all go to the retreats and do some trust falls, and we can go do all the woo-woo shit. And look, hey, I like a little bit of the woo-woo shit. I got a circle called Vibe Science. I talk about some of that stuff. It matters. But in business, we need outcomes. And what Rudy does drives outcomes and revenue. And that's the difference. You know, we can all be happy. We can be shiny.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
We can do all that. And it matters because you need to invest your people. But we need it to have an outcome. And Rudy, I want to turn that kind of into like that first question. I mean, what... What are the outcomes? I'm going to set this up as some of the successes you've seen, as some of the outcomes, because I know there's been multi-million dollar outcomes from things you've done.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
But talk about layering what you just said you do into some of the outcomes you've seen with some of the clients that you've worked with.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what you need to do right now. What you need to do today. We could talk about the past. All that does is give you a sore neck. That's what I say. That's why I got no rear view mirrors in my car, baby. That's why we're going to talk about what we need to do today. We're trying to get you ahead in business, marketing, life.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
You know, man, I about ran around the whole building naked five times because I love the results. I'm sitting here going, damn. And you know what got me? Because I'm just relating to every one of them. That's an old saying in the Offord family. I'm asking, made me run around the house naked five times. That's a, that's a compliment. That means you're excited.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
I'm like, I'm sitting here going, uh, I grew up, my grandmother used to say that it was kind of odd, you know, but, but it was funny. We knew what it meant. And so, uh, here's, here's my takeaway from that. It, You can't always see what's happening around you when you're so close to it. You need outside binoculars and someone kind of looking in and observing it through a different lens.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
It's really hard to do it internally. And that is number one. And number two, the lack mentality is real. It was really relatable because I have had people through the years, both at my agency that I'd worked on for others. It wasn't my agency, the agency I was working at, and the agency that I own in multiple channels where I've had people.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
Look, this show's about it all. That's why we're number one. You know why we're number one? Because I got good friends. And one of them is Rudy Ricksteins. What's up, Rudy? Hey, thank you so much for having me, Ryan. I'm excited to be on the show today. Hey, it's taken too long. You might recognize the name if you're listening because Rudy's amazing wife was on the show.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
I don't have that mentality personally, and so I couldn't identify it. But hearing you say that, now looking back at certain people I had, that was exactly what was going on. It's really fascinating because I'm like, why wouldn't they think that? But they just assume everybody puts themselves in the shoes and go, oh, I couldn't afford that, so I can't sell that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
it's a very limiting place to be, isn't it?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
If you're a manager out there, owner of a company, you know who to call. But now, Rudy, I want to turn it to a little bit of what we talked about pre-episode, making this actionable for looking through the lens of what high performance means and is. Everyone getting the most... Performance, to me, is an interesting thing. There's this fine line of potential realized. It's like...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
How do you reach that potential? And, you know, what are those attributes? Because you work with so many high performers, you've worked with at the highest level and you've taken some to the highest level. What are those things that you feel like you push people to do? You know, those four or five, like, here's what you have to start doing to get to the highest performance.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mastering Mindset: Practical Steps to Optimize Your Performance in Business and Life with Rudi Riekstins
And, you know, he was a true gentleman, letting his wife go first. She was awesome. Aniston's episode has been skyrocketing in downloads. I've got a lot of feedback. And she's a rock star, but we got the rock star couple here because Rudy is one of the best, let's just say the best, because you're going to find out today the best performance coach on the earth.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
I love that, but I want to break down a couple of those things because I mean, it's so number one, it's like, you know, I feel like I was, uh, I was at church again, like growing up, I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, you know, and you'd sit there and my dad, who's trying to get involved in the sermon, you know, sitting there and the pastor's really touching his heart. Amen. Hallelujah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Hallelujah. That was me underneath, like as you were speaking through all that. I wanted to give you some amen, some hallelujahs and some praise the Lord's as the old Southern Baptist. But you nailed it, man. I mean, I don't know why people have such a hard time getting over that. I can teach you all day on all those principles you just talked about on marketing.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
But if your brain isn't in the right place, you'll never enact upon them. So amen on all of that because it's the biggest problem now is everybody can go learn all these things, but if you don't get out of your own way, you're never going to put it to action.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Absolutely. So talking with Pace Morby, real estate investor, TV personality. I do want to talk, Pace, about... Some of your techniques, we've talked about it a little bit through this, and I really love all the setup and the brand and how you've built it. But let's talk triple-digit flip a bit. How did all that come about?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
You've been building your brand and obviously built this opportunity, but I dig and watch a few of the shows. Definitely have it on my YouTube TV save list now. So let's talk a little triple-digit flip.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Man, I like this guest. I like you already, Pace. I liked you before I met you. Now I like all the compliments. I'm like, ah, yes, ah. If I had my sound effects I could do on Friday, we'd be like hitting on them. But no, man, I appreciate that, brother.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
I mean, I've been doing it for 21 years and been blessed to work with some of the best and now interviewing some of the coolest, raddest people in the country, yourself included. And so I... you know, it's, it's a passion and, you know, but it's so true what you say, like people have this, I don't know, reflection on themselves that they're worried about what people think.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Hey, and now you got attention, more attention. Hey, you started, you built your brand, you got attention, and now you're on TV getting even more attention, which becomes leverage, my friend.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
But if you aren't putting yourself out there, this, you are so limited. It's not that if you can't make a company work, but guy like a lot named Dave Gerhart wrote a book called founder brand and how, if you're not putting yourself out there, you're, you're so limited. The tools and the availability with which to get attention are so great.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
And it may not have, I mean, what was the audience on the podcast? I mean, it may not have been like, you know, hundreds of thousands of people, but it was the right audience, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
To not be leveraging them because of some self-limiting trait is just limiting.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Every company and every person. It's not as bad as it used to be. A lot of them have figured out that it's not that easy, which is why they call us. But it's amazing how many individuals think that way.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Thank you. Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
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Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
,.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
I'm jealous of that because my wife is in the school system. She's an assistant principal at a middle school. And if anyone deserves an award the last few years with... Everything that's been going on, it's anyone in the school system or at any time in life, really. But I am trying to convince her to come into our worlds together. So I am a little jealous of that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
I think we want to make it happen. It's just, you know, she's built a career there. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Exactly. Exactly. So I'm chipping away at it. We'll see how it goes. Good, good, good. Cool, man. As we're wrapping up here, I mean, any other, I mean, I know people will give all your links and stuff like that, but Anything else, maybe in a lightning round of anyone wanting to get into real estate? Obviously, they didn't go watch all your videos. You got all that stuff.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
I didn't want to spend our time doing things that one link away with your amazing content could talk about. But is there anything you'd want to leave for anyone thinking about getting into investing? And has the... The shortage and the hot market changed. That was kind of one of the more technical things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
I was wondering, like, if the approaches you apply with like Sub2 and all that stuff, a red hot market, does that change any of that? And I'm probably asking questions that are like, you know, deeper than time allows.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Hey, where can everybody keep up with Pace Morby? I know you got pacemorby.com. We've got sub2.com. Just go to my Instagram.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Pace, man. I'm not just saying this, dude. It's just episode 230 that we've recorded. This might be my favorite. I mean, you're that dude, man. Pisces, whatever the hell you are, just a likable guy. Thank you, man. And I appreciate your time. Everybody go watch Triple Digit Flip on A&E. Sundays and Mondays, right? They get that right? Sundays and Mondays. Hey, I love it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Go follow Pace Morby on Instagram. Hey, guys, you're going to find us, ryanisright.com. You'll find all the highlight clips from today, all the info and links to this platform. Hey, a lot of ways to make money. We're just here to help you learn all those different avenues. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what's now. We're talking about business. We're talking about marketing. We're talking about life. We're getting creative today. Creative real estate investing. I've got a real estate investor, TV personality, Pace Morby. What's up, brother?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Thank you, brother. I really appreciate that. I hope you'll continue to listen. You got to at least listen one more time when this episode goes live, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Hey, so you've just given the greatest commercial ever for my upcoming mastermind.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
You're in. You're in the vortex. Hey, man, that means a lot coming from you. I knew about you. I've been watching you from afar. And then when I'm like, I want this guy on my show, I start digesting. And I'm like, man, this guy's figured it out. And I'm like, so that means a lot coming from you, brother.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Literally, they have mindset issues where they are like... This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. Three, two, one.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Mindset vs Skillset: The Secret to Business Success with Pace Morby
Mm-hmm.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
And, you know, being a marketing guy, if you're not into social media, then you're probably not really into marketing because it is the way to market these days. But there's a lot of talk about what it is, what it isn't, about what flows through social media. So no better person to come on than the CEO of Arwen.ai. He is Matthew McCrory. What's up, Matthew?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Ja, er ist wie jeder gute Entrepreneur manchmal enttäuscht, aber er ist, es ist interessant, dass du das Weeboat-Ding mitgebracht hast und es ist lustig, ich war auf dem Markt, auf Sonntag. Und ich gehe nicht sehr oft zum Mall hier in den Staaten. Aber ich dachte, in Bezug auf Social Media, und wenn ich denke, was du mit Bildung sprichst, ist es fast wie dieses...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
There's a place that I'm now seeing more clearly than I did. I kind of panned the whole Metaverse bullshit like four or five years ago because I thought we were ahead of it. And it was just so, I don't know, ethereal that it wasn't like real yet. Hey, I'm going to get into space. And I'm yeah, I know that I care what my skin is and that my shirts are. But it wasn't quite there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
But now I can sort of see this inner interplay of transactional information. Merchandise, like what you're talking about, meets digital, meets social, like the digital mall. Because when you look around the mall, it is like this combination of social, because people are having conversations or walking around in these courts and things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
And I almost have this vision now that I see what you're saying with like... X becoming that digital place of social plus shopping plus interaction, right? I think that's what you're kind of painting, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Yeah, that train is moving fast. I mean, you can see it with machine learning and everything like it. It's both exciting and scary sometimes. Talking with Matthew McCrory, he is the CEO of Arwen.ai. Matthew, I mean, it's interesting. I'm hearing you talk. I'm sort of like looking at the Arwen platform and it makes me think of this.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Yeah, man. I was excited to have you guys reached out and we had to schedule a couple of little blips here and there, but I was pumped. The news has been in your space, which I know. I know marketing well enough with PR. Hey, that's free rising to the top. You want it to be top of mind, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
world that we live in where you have all this content being pushed out, words, pictures, type, all that. And like you said, you're helping brands engage because finding the nuggets that could be transactional opportunities or brand opportunities, which is what I'm hearing. And it goes to show that there's so much data and so many micro conversations happening on social media.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
dass es Macht in der Intelligenz gibt, die es bietet, wenn es für dich aufgerollt wird und dir diese Signale gibt. Und am Kern, ich fühle mich, dass das, was ihr macht, mit Engage, besonders, richtig?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
French Fries, yeah, yeah, yeah. In America.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
What? Matthew, I mean, I worked on one of the first visualizations of social media for Verizon Wireless in 2010. We did a gigantic Twitter sentiment board. It was live like an NFL game and it would light up and do things. It was based on sentiment, things like that. It was very rudimentary. This is 14 years ago. But
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
I want to just clearly for our audience, though, talk about specifically with, you know, the advancements and how you're using AI of how this isn't just a sentiment type thing, how it is actionable and really like comes to life for people or in brands.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Ja, ich meine, es kann so viel mehr Daten schnell processen und dann nicht nur processen, es kann interpretieren, richtig? Es ist die Interpretation wahrscheinlich, das ist das, weißt du, das ist das, was dir auf den Kopf fällt. Es fühlt sich so an.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Aber...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Aber es gibt, ich weiß nicht, E-Commerce-Branden, die vielleicht kleiner sind, aber eine große, breite Publikation haben, oder die es mögen. Und, weißt du, Intent-Daten wären sehr wertvoll für sie. Aber ist das erreichbar oder erreichbar oder skalierbar? Wo beginnt und endet das mit Arwen?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
I'm going to ask you, Matthew, since you brought that up, I'm just curious. This is less your opinion, but you can certainly share it more. What is the sentiment overseas? I know you're just south of London. What is the sentiment overseas of what Das hat sich sowohl mit der Wahl als auch mit dem Vizepräsidenten verbreitet. Ist das ein generelles Gefühl oder ist es wie bei uns, 50-50?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
You might have a target market in mind, but tools like this could help you pivot and or adapt target markets that are maybe larger or different than what you anticipated. If suddenly your product has a use case or is gaining steam with soccer moms for some reason, you could build niche target markets from this data that might not have been your first inclination.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Ja. Ja, ich meine, in Theorie, wie funktioniert es, Matthew? Ich meine, so weit wie eine Industrie-Aggregation von Daten. Okay, es ist eine Sache für Coca-Cola, die will, dass ihre Billionen Kunden wissen, wie sie darüber sprechen. Es ist eine andere Sache für eine Coca-Cola-Start-up, die will, dass... you know, wants sentiment data for the industry.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
So, I mean, I assume you might work with both, correct? I know that going straight to brands or an agency or the brand might be, but you can also roll up, I guess, categorically, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Ja, das ist ein interessanter Unterschied. Und ich kann verstehen, wenn du personalisierte Daten willst. Ich glaube, es ist eigentlich das Rollen der Daten und was es dir sagt, nicht unbedingt so, dass ich Jane Smith targetieren kann, weil ich weiß, dass sie es kaufen will, sondern mehr die Aggregation dieser Wissen, weil du denkst,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
I mean, and I'm not suggesting anything nefarious here, Matthew, but scraping what is public information, you know, for posts that are public and not necessarily made to only specific people or whatever, that that information could be aggregated in a way that could tell you things. And I'm not saying that's what Arwen does, but I don't know where the line gets drawn with
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
öffentlich verfügbare Daten gegenüber deiner persönlichen Profile und dann dich mit leckeren Schuhen konzentrieren, weil wir wissen, dass du das magst.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Do you guys enrich, you know, does Arwen enrich those, you know, again, the data that you have access to within the box of the brand? Are you enriching that data, you know, for targeting on digital channels?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Matthew, als wir die Episode hier beenden, Worauf geht es für Arwen und was ist deine Zukunftsvision, wo sich die Moderation auf Social Media befindet und wie sieht man Arwen als Teil davon aus?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Yes, I live in that world myself. And hey, if Arwen can help protect them from some of the bad guys, I'm all for it. I just want it to be done in a world where we're not moderating opinion. Yeah, I totally agree with you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Matthew, it was a pleasure having you on. I really appreciate it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Hey, guys, you're going to find us, ryanisright.com. You'll find highlight clips from today's episode, the full YouTube video and audio, and of course, all the links to social media for Arwen and myself and the show. We appreciate you. We know you have a choice in podcasting. Thank you for making us number one. We'll see you next time or right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Es ist unvergleichbar. Ich sage immer, wir sind ein Land von Immigranten. Aber wir sind jetzt auf einer Art und Weise, wo man Regeln und Maßnahmen haben muss. Es ist ein bisschen wie Wild Wild West in diesem Bereich. I do want to get down, right down, you know, the pike here. I think with our, you know, audience, we got that treadmill crowd.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Ja.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
And so I do want to add one point. You know, you mentioned the Biden administration and not, you know, you know, you're you're overseas. It's not your job to know the everything. But I am going to quote exactly what they did, because Zuckerberg said it in front of Congress under testimony that he was pressured to censor. And they did censor covid information on Facebook. Das ist Bullshit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Und genau das ist passiert. Und Zuckerberg hat beide, du weißt, ein Kommen zu Jesus, so zu sprechen, für seine eigenen Plattformen und auch, du weißt, ein bisschen Hutzlau hinter ihm bekommen, weil die Jungs jetzt UFC machen. Ich weiß nicht, ob es alle verbunden ist. Du weißt, manche Leute nennen das toxische Masculinität. Ich würde es einfach nennen.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Seeing the world as it should be, which is, you can do what, look, 100% agree, no hate, threats of violence, nobody, that bullshit needs to be taken out. And so I think we can all align on that stuff. But political-based... You know, pressuring on these platforms that's been taking place in the US. And Zuckerberg is just the only one that got up there and admitted it has been happening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
And that's the stuff that just drives. And I think part of the reason Trump got elected, you know, people like or love him, hate him. It's just that there's just not room for that kind of political, like not only censorship, but freaking censorship. They want to call everything disinformation, misinformation. Truth is in the eye of the beholder.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what's now. And you know it's right, baby. You know it's right, because we're talking about it. Hey, at least we think it is. In our own heads, to your minds. I'm excited. You know, we get to talk one of my favorite topics, social media.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
Wir als Amerikaner gehen durch was wir Audits nennen. with our taxes. We get audited. I think there needs to be an accounting. And look, I don't really want to drudge up this shit. I'm a guy that doesn't have a rearview mirror. Let's go forward. But I do think we got to make sure we learn from the past so we don't repeat it in the future is the biggest thing that I would take away.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Moderation vs Censorship & Helping Brands Safely Navigate Social Media w/ Matthew McGrory
I will say, that's what I love about what you're doing is it seems to be You guys are headed down the road of the right moderation with the stuff that we can all universally agree. And as a brand and as a company that you don't want in your content and you don't want your customers, you know, get subjected to that. That's why I really like what you guys are doing with our way.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Do young people value the idea of the American dream in your mind?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Yeah, I think we've lost compromise. I know, it sounds weak. And I hate, as a strong opinion guy, it is like, you know, like, I don't know that I always like to, but I like effectiveness. You do. Yeah. And it's ineffective not to compromise sometimes. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
No, it means that there's usually middle ground.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Exactly. Strength. And that's what's missing. I mean, that's totally, it's just, I'm going to have my way and we've gotten to where like used to be that, but then it's just now brute force of my way or the highway seemingly.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Yeah. I mean, it's it's a melting pot of, you know, I like this. I like that. And it's supposed to be that way. Right. Yeah. We're forced seemingly by our social groups into one camp or the other.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Yeah. What motivates people?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
It is. Very tribal.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
And social media is the stomping ground of it all.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
I know, you did that though. Like it did not boil down to like one or two things though.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Yeah, exactly. It's all one America, right to the thing. And I think I think that's what most people want. And again, we forced into these camps and it's, it's even a struggle for me. Cause you think, okay, she's independent. You're still trying to be wooed to one side of the other, typically, especially like when it comes to voting time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
And it's like, yeah, we have a two party system for the most part. I mean, independence never won the president.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
And so I don't know where this is. how do we break the pattern that we're in?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Yeah. And I've been vocal about where I voted in the last election, but I voted on both sides of the aisle in multiple elections in past elections. I, you know, am a true independent. But, you know, I think but then I felt even my own personal experience of getting thrown into one camp or the other because I like a certain policy, you know, being an entrepreneur to side of things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
And not because I'm in love with the person, but I like the policies. And so even I've felt the, you know, the wave of one side being happy and the wave of another side just, you know, lumping me in with something else.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
Yeah. What drives you every day? Like, you know, like what what what sets your frame of reference for, you know, why you do what you do?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
OK, doctor.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum
No, I don't know about that, but I'm probably a little less structured. My wife is not, though. She's a principal at a middle school, so they get both sides of the aisle. I can sit by and watch. I know exactly what she's doing right now.
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It's hard as hell to let control go.
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I'm not a controlling person at all. Myself, yes. Very particular. But with your children, though, because you know what they don't know. And you want the best for them. And, you know, there's the fine line of living vicariously through your children, which some people do.
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Let's put that over the side and more like wanting the best for them and knowing what are hard paths and what are easier paths and letting them figure that out while also coaching them.
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Yeah, I was close.
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I had, you know, I got along with everyone, but silently you couldn't really tell me much.
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And now I know it's my payback.
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Yeah.
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But yeah. Oh, PhD. You know a few more than one or two things. What's success look like for the Independence Center?
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Yes, we are. And I'm not Mr. Academia. We had that discussion. Another story for another day. I've talked about it on the show. But I do like some marketing books. Some of my favorite are like The Art of Persuasion and those kind of things. Because I always say, people think with their head and they buy with their heart.
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This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts Right About Now.
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I think about like social media and the pod, you know, I mean, I'm working, you're marketing, you're marketers, like, you know, like, and it's such a great vehicle for exchanging ideas and doing things. But when I, when I hear you answering that questions and I even think about my own life, I feel like it gets in the way sometimes though of progress of, of,
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this type of thinking and thought and independence and not feeling like you're being judged, you know, to get to that point. And I think, I really hope we can get to this place where the policies are just elevated to a point where you can't ignore them anymore. And you, and you almost go, well,
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the politics that you just push it to the side, almost like, you know, two teams fight it, you know, it matters, but this is what matters, you know, like, well, you know, one of the ways I look at this is that, um,
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Yeah. And it's scorekeeping at all times. It's like, you know, everything that happens is slanted this way or that way. And how can we, you know, one up the score?
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Yeah.
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And that's not doing anything to advance us. No, even if like it, it's almost like it might accidentally do it, but it's not getting to the core of the issues that we're dealing with.
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Yeah.
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Of how I can paint with a red brush or a blue brush, you know, like how I can, you know, make one candidate look good and one look bad with the exact same story.
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It is. I think that's what it is.
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It's freaking the real world.
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Speaking of issues... You know, you've gotten into this job and everything you guys are doing with the Independence Center and looked at data and studies from people smarter than me, a lot smarter. But like, is there anything that surprised you? Is there like a source of data or a fact or, you know, a thing that... Because, again, you're a strong-willed, independent person. Yeah, there you go.
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You admitted it. You already owned it. You said, you can tell me anything. But is there stuff that even surprised you from the data? It's wide open. It could be on anything. But it was different than maybe you thought.
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Right.
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Did it happen?
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Sounds like exactly what it should be. Right.
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As we close out here, Laura, you know, I bring it back to the American dream. And I feel like everything I've been hearing you say is leading towards educating people on things and policies that can help them fulfill their American dream. And, you know, I, I almost feel like, you know, we're talking about our kids and talking about who's coming up. Like,
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If I think those in power or even maybe the next generation, because we can admit we're kind of, you know, the elected officials we have have already been here. We know what we got. And I'm almost thinking like eight to 12 years, 16 years from now. I don't think the kids and the young people are going to do it the way it's being done right now. Yeah. And I think so.
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I think the boat's going to have to change or they're going to be, I don't know, a revolution anyway.
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Yeah. That's got to be high compared to 30 years ago, 20 years ago. It's way higher. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I think so. I think it actually ties into the American dream too.
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Yes.
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Yeah, we can do better. That's what American Dream is helping us do. They're a proud sponsor. And look, whether they're a sponsor or not, I'd be supporting them because I believe in the American Dream and what we're pushing for. Laura, how can everybody keep up with what you're doing, what the Independent Center is doing, and get involved, all that good stuff?
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When you think about those motivations and those, the history of that, and that's what's so fascinating. We've been talking about that on the show and I love what the independence center is doing around this, you know, bring the studies, the data, the stuff, um, we've done the man on the street stuff, which you've probably seen this on my content.
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You're very approachable. And I appreciate you coming on.
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Of course. And I think that's what we need in America. You'll find that link to Independence Center in our show notes on my bio on Instagram. And look, go sign up for the newsletter. Get the politics out of the way. Get the policies at the front of the line. That's what we need. That is what is now. Go find me. Ryanisright.com. You'll find links to all of the highlight clips from today's show.
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All the good stuff. None of the bad stuff. All what's now. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit Ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
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But I mean, when you hear like, yeah, Laura Forkham, like what, what's the American dream to you?
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I was, I was surprised, you know, we've talked, I mean, it was, they almost felt scripted because of how thoughtful they were and how they align with what we assume to be kind of like the silent majority of people that, you know, feel this way about the American dream and have diverse feelings, but You know, there's also this air of feeling scared to sort of talk about it.
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And because no one wants to be polarizing and they're kind of tired of it, so they don't want to feed that. Yeah. And it's like, it's almost hard to have an opinion and feel like you can have a dialogue. Yes.
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What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what's now. We can talk about the future. We can talk about the past. But we're talking about today. What you need to know, how you get ahead, and look... I think you're going to recognize a name today because I've been talking about him for a few months. It really matters today.
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Exactly.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Yeah. I mean, creativity comes from the very fabric of different ideas and thoughts blended together.
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That's right. I mean, and I think about myself growing up, I, the diversity within my own family dynamic is what makes you who you are. Like, and yeah, we get in these, I don't know, echo chambers. And I don't know when that, you know, I'm in my forties, like, but I don't, it wasn't always that way.
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Even in my growing up, I didn't feel like, I feel like, cause I can remember, I feel like in my twenties where I'd have disagreements with people about certain things and it was okay. You know, like we'd still have beers at night or go out or play a sport. It just, I don't know. When did that flip?
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That's right.
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Do young people value the idea of the American dream in your mind?
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The shiny house with the white picket fence. Right. It's not a house on the little house on the prairie.
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And a dog and a cat and maybe some fish.
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You know, I've thought a lot about this, and it comes back to some really simple themes to me. Security. Safety. and the right to do whatever the hell I want when I want, you know, like within reason. Within reason.
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A lot of the stuff that's going on is very partisan and very political. And I like to cut through the bullshit and ultimately talk about policies that matter. That's why I love the Independence Center. And that's why we brought the president. We're going straight to the top, baby. Straight to the top. We got the doctor of independence, Lori Forkham. What's up, Lori?
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But it's security, safety, freedom. That's the American dream. It might be a shiny house. It might be a rented apartment. But you have security and safety and an assurance that you can make it on your own, right? Or with your family dynamic, whatever that is.
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Yeah. Yeah. It's the, it's definitely grown in perceived importance that doesn't really align with the actual value or interest.
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Still Americans.
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What do you think are some of the bigger... I don't know, meaningful topics that are at the heart of people today that need to be elevated.
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I mean, what makes America great is our ingenuity and creativity. small businesses, entrepreneurs starting and then growing them maybe into the next Tesla or maybe the next, you know, local coffee shop.
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But that's sort of the fabric of America. So if we're not stimulating that, we're in trouble.
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Yeah, it's good. It's good. Hey, in person too. Yeah. You know, I was like, hey, can't pass that up.
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Yeah. Laura, this likes to lead me right into the water. I'm wanting to wade into, I love it. Talking to Laura Forkham. She is the president of the independent center. So Laura, I think when you think about politics, the right and the left, I'm going to oversimplify, but I want to know where we feel like the independent.
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I know. And you're down the road.
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I know the independent is Switzerland, but it's more the policies than the politics. I'm going to lead it through the politics. I think the right... Less government, less involvement. Get out of my shit. The left doesn't necessarily say get in my shit, but we need governance. We need hardcore. I mean, I'm simplifying, but I think that's a big difference of the right.
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And you're in marketing and you're a professor at Clemson where I went. How did we not know each other?
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The independent center being Switzerland and listening to people that thought about policies. Do people lean more right or left in that or not even right or left? Get politics over here. Do they lean more regulation or less regulation from what you guys hear?
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Yep. Yep. Bedros, a lot to unpack there and really appreciate you going backwards from the beginning. I mean, the biggest, you know, there's about 12 takeaways. Let me start with the first one. We talk about the American dream and we talk about the opportunities as Americans.
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Then, you know, I see a lot of people that talk all the time about like how blessed you are, like to wake up if you're born in America and the opportunities that are at your feet, no matter like how bad it is. But, you know, you're an immigrant.
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You were not born in America, but came over, had the opportunity, but saw the American dream and how you took it by the balls and, you know, like have become what everybody wants to. Like what? Where is that? I don't know that it's been lost. But where did that is it just is it nature or nurture?
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Like I hear I hear guys like you, Bedros, that I just want to like, you know, like man hug and like high five, you know, in the best possible way. You know, I'm like, but where does that come from? Is it nature or nurture? Like, is it just because you wanted it more? I don't know when you when you.
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I'm going to ask you a question, and it has nothing to do with anything I thought I was going to ask you, but based on what you just answered. So the next thing I'm going to ask is your ability to pivot. And I think people don't appreciate exactly what that means or the power of that, which you have a true strength in. I'm going to come back to that, but I'm going to seed that with you right now.
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As an immigrant and as being someone who believes in the American dream and sees all that, How do you, where do you, where do you fall in the open borders situation? Like, is that a, is that a, is that a tough one for you or an easy one for you?
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Ding, ding, ding. Listen, folks, you know, you have to have a system and process in place to know who's coming in your front door or your back door. And look, if there's not a condition for it to happen, then there needs to be because you've got to be able to appreciate you got to understand our ways and cultures and values, you know. So, boom. There it is for people that don't understand why.
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There has to be some protections there. Now, let's talk about some business. Pivoting. You know, you talk for, I don't know, 15 minutes. Who knows how long it was? Doesn't matter. And you know all I heard? This fucker knows how to pivot. He knows and it is a skill because everybody gets so locked in. This is my baby. This is my business. It's going nowhere. No, you got to pivot that shit.
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And that's what you are brilliant at. I see it. I hear it. You've done it in a million ways. We even talked about some of your coaching stuff, but talk to me about, is it just smart? It's about this nature versus nurture. I've talked to guys that I like that are successful, but tell me about pivoting because that's what you did. You know, like understanding and the nuance of what's happening.
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Oh, I'm talking about 2008 when you pivoted. You were the master pivoter. Group fitness, you said literally yourself, you were talking about it. And I don't know. I'm like, did it skyrocket in group fitness? Because that is essentially what happened when personal training took a dive. It was group fitness. That became the word pivot in fitness. But that was it.
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Boom. Love it. What? What's the Bedros personal brand? When you hear that word, do you cringe when you hear personal brand? Like it's become like a bad word, you know, like it's overplayed. And look, as a marketer and as a writer, like, and I've written, you know, can you hear me now?
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Like, you know, coming up with some creative lines in my history, I've struggled with what to call paid personal branding that's not personal brand because it's gotten such a bad rap. But when I hear the Bedros name, I'm like, you know, that's a personal brand. Like, but what's your feeling on that?
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Yeah. I mean, we're just going to get hard and heavy quick and fast, that's what I love about it. So where did this, where did it all start, man? Where did this erosion begin? I don't know where, there's this fine line with me personally where, We can't all personally attack every single issue in life.
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Right. And like, you know, shit, you say those names. I know exactly what that means.
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Right? Yes.
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I do, too. I hate it, but I use it because people know what it is. But Bedros is definitely a personal brand. That's why you're sitting here on the Radcast. But it's just amazing. I just don't understand why people don't get it. It's like it took me a while to get over the cringeworthiness, but I don't know what the block is, you know? Like, what's that roadblock? Is it just...
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And you can fight me on that, but I just have so many battles that I can fight, and we need to fight some battles, and maybe fight some wars, not too many battles. I don't know where the structure falls. And then there's the... Common sense that there's this erosion of the things that you're talking about and accepting things that shouldn't be accepted as Americans.
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I am worried about other people's, what they think about me. Like, I mean, is that just what it is?
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Well, yeah. You just never know. It's educate and entertain and entertain a lot. Or just be human, man. People want humanity. You got to be human. People say, what's your shtick? It's not B to B. It's not B to C. It's B to H. This is a human. We're all human beings. We relate to one another. Stop being H. Yeah. That's the formula right there. So what's... what's our biggest threat today?
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
What's like, we talked, I think we may have started at the beginning. We end at the beginning with literally, you know, but maybe from a business standpoint, you know, you got AI, you got GPT, everybody gets scared about shit. I'm just like, that's a tool, man. But what do you see as, what are the gray clouds and the blue sky for Bedros?
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
I don't know where that started to fall, but I also don't know how many things can we take all in at once. Am I just being, you know, a puss about that? Or like, how do you fight, which battles do you fight?
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Thank you. Thank you.
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
Thank you.
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
Talking to Bedros Killian, founder and CEO of Fit Body Camp, author of Man Up, How to Cut the Bullshit, and Kick Ass in Business and Life. Killian, my brother. What's up, brother? What's happening? I'm doing well. I'm doing well, right? Thank you for having me, man. I appreciate the opportunity. Yeah, man. Pumped to have you. We know a lot of the same people.
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I think the only way we can get there is if we could somehow figure out that it's not a left and right decision. This is a common sense American discussion. You know, like this isn't about right. This isn't about left. This is about fucking American rights and about the American way of being able to speak our minds, have freedom of speech.
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carry guns, perhaps what the second amendment is, you know, but everything is so fucking left and right. You can't, it's so polarizing. And so like, you can't just have a fundamental discussion. And that's the shit that just drives me crazy.
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It's a, you read the art of war with a better, better, better strategy than what you just described. You know, it almost seems intentional, right? Yeah.
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And, you know, I've been following you for a while. Admire her from afar. You got me pumped up all the time. Your book's awesome. I think you're a great inspiration for what we need in today's world. motivation, positivity, but a little kick in the damn ass. You know, it ain't all sunshines and flowers and roses all day. That is true. What's going on in your world these days?
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
And I think that's the takeaway, Bedros, right there. For everybody listening, we've gone heavy and hard right at it, but you need to hear this because you need to think for yourself and think clearly and not be leaned or pointed towards one direction because of popularity or whatever. You need to be convicted. And I think that's what it's about. Bedros, I do want to give
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
some props and some attention to your background and history. Obviously, you're going to pick up your book and they can do enough Googling. I don't want to wear that out. But I think you're such a good storyteller. I think you're just having such an amazing foundation. I do want to do some justice to that for the audience.
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
We're talking a little bit about that story, building up one of the fastest growing franchises in the country. So let's talk a little bit about that background.
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Pivoting in Business: How to Thrive Amidst Challenges Like a Pro with Bedros Keuilian
Yeah. Let's start. You know, we'll do let's do justice to both of those. And I think that's an important story because about what we started down this path of the American way, the American country. I think your history is what matters in in that foundational of what sets your mind where it is.
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This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Yeah, well, I'm inspired just the fact that you're here. I don't know if it's that or if it's just Exponent. You know, you got to get some of this, man. Maybe both. You know, Exponent, plant-powered. Hey, it powers the podcast. Hey, that's what makes this work, people. You know, you get the content. We give you the sponsors. And look, I don't work with anybody I don't like. That's why I drink.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
They're up to two billion a day is what they're cutting. Two billion a day. Two billion a day. And Elon said today they buy this weekend. They're going to hit four billion in cuts a day. And that's the only way that they will get to a trillion this year. And he says they're on pace to do it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Yeah, exactly. And what do you guys make of what's happening with crypto? Let's go down that road for a minute. Like, I got to admit, I'm not a crypto expert. Chris is our crypto expert. And mind you, this segment of the podcast, this is not investment advice. We are not professional financial advisors.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
But I was pumped and excited. And I'm not losing any money. And I've just got it riding. But it's like, I can't make out what's happening, Chris. What's happening, Chris?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Fusion Energy, Exponent, X marks the spot. Drink Exponent. DrinkExponent.com and Drink Exponent on Instagram. Official energy drink of the show. So, guys, talking a little news today. We talked pre-episode, and Chris and I have been talking like last year. We'd have these news episodes that even just once a week we'd go. Hmm. Interest rates. What are we talking about? Biden's naps.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I got three letters. Three letters. XRP. I need it to go up, baby. That's all I need. I bought it at 70 cents. We're sitting at like 280. I need 10X. We need like $10.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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No.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
I'm just I'm a bad I'm a I'm a gambler, baby. Yeah. I like to ride the winners. I don't have to understand it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And I I've been moving like what I was going to spend on crypto into sports cards. My four boys have gotten into the sports car bug. So we've been opening rad rips, wrapping packs, getting in some NFL football cars. That's at least fun. And nothing like getting my son on Sunday watching the Super Bowl. And, you know, it became a snore fest pretty quickly, unfortunately. Go Eagles.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I was pulling for the Eagles. Not because I'm a – I love greatness. I just – I like the Eagles. And I like – I have a lot of respect for Hertz, one of my favorite players out of Alabama. I don't count whatever that stop at Oklahoma was. He was an Alabama player. Anyway, back to the sports cards. Clayton's my oldest, and he's kind of the least engaged in it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And he's open – it's like a $25 box of cards, and then the packs are like six packs. And he's sitting there next to me. And then this one particular box, there's one type of card that's like super rare. They're kind of cheap cards, but they have these cards called Kabooms. And they're worth like $500,000 to $5,000 a card. And my son's sitting next to me opening a pack.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And I thought he was totally like... Like some of my sons will go, oh, man, look what I got. And it'll hold up. And it's the shittiest guy ever, like shittiest card. And Clayton goes, he's looking through it and he's naming names. And he goes, OK, my home. Oh, that's a pretty cool card. And like just base cards, you know, worth a couple of dollars where. And he goes, kaboom.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And then he goes to the next one. And I heard him say it and I'm like, he's trolling me. He's showing me. But it's like Clayton also doesn't know cards as well as my other younger sons. And I said, wait, what did you just say, Clayton? He said, I got some card with Kaboom on it. I said, give me those cards. He had a $700 Kaboom in his pocket, in his hand from a $25 box and a $4 pack.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Right in the middle of the Super Bowl. And if I hadn't heard him say it, he would have thrown them on the table like every other card. It was awesome. The kids, my three other boys were like jumping up and down. They couldn't believe it. But it was fun. It was just funny because I thought he was trolling me. But sports cards are more fun. You know, like, hey, you get to get them.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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David Caldwell, you got a sports card out there, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
What are we talking about? What? Now it's like, damn, it's been. That's why we're doing two this week. Chris and I are doing another show. We got to do two in one. There's so much news happening. Trump's making moves. Like them, love them, or hate them. It's not about politics, but it is impacting news. And I like what I see overall.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
You needed that name, image, and likeness to come around when you were in college, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Yeah, yeah, exactly. But anyway, sports car scooter. You know what I've learned? Right. Sports cars are popular, man. The number of people I post on social all the time. I'll post about business. I get, you know, a hundred of this, a hundred of that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I've had no fewer than I don't know how many people when I post about the sports cars that are coming out of the woodworks going, oh, man, that's a good guy. I'm like, damn, these things are more popular than I realized. Anyway, there's a lot of money in that shit. Can't believe it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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They got 27 variations of every card now. That's what's hard to keep up with. So like you'll have Patrick Mahomes in a pack or like a set like Prism is like a name of one of them. And that same picture of Patrick on the same brand of card will have like 27 variations of the color or a hologram. Nothing changes, but like the overlay of the colors on top.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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They have a green diamond, a black diamond, a red diamond. And like one of them is super rare. And all of the others are worth like five or 10 percent more than the base card. It's hard to keep. You've got to scan the card. You could be sitting there holding a $700 card or holding a $0.07 card, and they look this much different. But that's what makes it fun, though.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
The boys love it, and there is a lot of money in it. But, you know, ripping packs is fun. It is kind of like gaming. You're sitting there going, oh, oh. You never know what you're going to get, man. Yeah, exactly. And ironically, it was a –
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
worthy the wide receiver the kaboom card was worthy from uh kansas city's team the wide receiver so that was pretty cool and he was like on the screen right right when all that transpired i was like this is fun anyway get into those sports cards it's more fun than crypto but crypto's probably got the longer turn upside i see that xrp to ride baby chris can tell your xr people to pump that stuff man
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
I'll let them know. Should we text when we get off? I know. Turn it on, boys. David, I know you talk news every week. I mean, what else is catching your eye this week? I mean, what else have you got coming?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
David, I don't know your perspective, but a lot of the things that are happening are they're getting attention but we don't know the impact yet right so i i don't i get excited that it feels like there's progress but we don't have necessarily results but we'll see what do you make of the kind of the the business climate overall with everything that's going down
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Yep. I got one last article I want us to hit on. Yeah. This is a little sideways, but the money is crazy. It kind of goes down our other show's route, Chris. This has hit my thing. Cordyceps fungi. They're selling in Beijing for $136,000 a pound and have made their way into Whole Foods. Talking about a show called The Last of Us that's on HBO. Yeah. I had no idea it was that big a market.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And it went for that. Did you know that? It's cordyceps?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Come pick them up. Bring the cash. Yeah. But it says, which grows on the corpses of ghost moth larvae. It's worth four times its weight in gold. traditional medicine says it cures almost anything. And they're also now calling it the Himalayan Viagra.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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You still take that mushroom complex, Chris?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
I feel like they compound the stuff and it gets so powdery. By the time you actually take the pill, it's like how much is really going through your bloodstream. That's just a skeptic in me.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I just couldn't believe $136,000 a pound. I've seen cordyceps in a lot of different supplements I take now. I was wondering why I was feeling so amped, but now I know why. I'm kidding. It's more that I see it in a lot of things. I just had no idea it cost that much.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Yeah, I'm sure. Finally, the betting world has increased now that ESPN bet and all that other stuff is out there. I read that there was like over a billion dollars like bet on the Super Bowl. And there's an article, Bloomberg.com is highlighting two guys that spend $10,000 a weekend gambling. They're professional gamblers just on sports. And it's like everything from ping pong to I'm like this.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
The article should be called degenerate. I think that's what that's called. But supposedly they're doing all right. But I'm like, you know, I got to see the receipts on these gamblers that say they're making money. But but the industry as a whole is gotten. I mean, it's bonkers how much money is wagering on these games. Like anybody put, I didn't, I don't know. I used to do it like 10 or 15 years.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Of course they are.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Yeah. Chris, we've talked about this. We know you don't bet.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
i don't know anymore i've only done it like i've done it recreationally just when like everyone in the room is doing it i'm like all right sure let me try to get involved in it i've never made money on it yeah the only thing you're betting on is those brunettes at the bar that you don't drink yet but you know but they do right yeah single in miami david are you single
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Thank you. Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. We're always talking about, hey, We always write. You know that. But we're always talking about what's now, not about the future, not about the past, but about today. This is about getting you ahead in business and in life and ultimately making it all happen. And, hey, I got the king of making it happen.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Thank you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Yeah. And I mean, that's interesting that from your perspective and knowing, you know, that that feels a little bit of the universal sentiment, I think with people that, like you said, are hustling forward, you know, but we'll see. I just think, Government has been so stuck in its ways. It's like it's been accepted. We've accepted how slow they've enacted things. Well, we'll get to that tomorrow.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
We might have a shutdown in three weeks. Well, you got fucking three weeks to figure that shit out. Like, what are we doing? Like, none of this stuff happens in real life and real business. You know, my mortgage don't wait three weeks. You know, like, I got to make money today. I got to get stuff done today. And the government, with all this inefficiency...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
is allowed to operate at these levels because we tolerate it and that's not even talking about necessarily whether i agree with every policy or not it's more with which the speed with the action taking place because if there's no action it's just a lot of hot air and that's what i think is refreshing if nothing else is we seem to be bringing people to the table around the whole block here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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It doesn't seem as, it doesn't seem as politicized as it was kind of heated coming through. I think a lot of that is, it feels like it's dissipating a little bit. Now I know the other side's complaining about shit, but like it's, I don't know, Chris, what do you think?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Yeah. And I'm OK if there's even a little bit of selfishness in it, if it's moving things forward, you know, like and I think you've got a little bit of that going on. I'm not stupid. You get all these business guys. They know pandering to the president isn't a bad idea, but it does seem to be.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
I got two of the kings. Chris, what's happening, brother, down in Miami? What's good, bro? How are you today? I'm good, man. Hey, I'm pumped. Got my brother from another. He is David Caldwell. What's up, David? Man, life is good, bro. Appreciate y'all having me on. Yeah, man. Ex-NFL, business mentor, consultant. Professional badass. Just all around good guy. I appreciate that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
I don't know, like we're rowing at least for the people that matters in the right direction or the same direction with some of the business units, because if everybody's fighting, you don't get anywhere. I'm talking about like the business people, not necessarily the left's going to do what they're going to do. But I think. It's really fascinating to see how people are defending.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
I'm going to go down like the Doge route. The Department of Government Efficiency. Go figure. Did we ever think we'd see the day that that would even try to exist? Government and efficiency in the same word. The worst run business on the planet is the post office. And that's run by the government. And so we're actually going to get efficient in this place.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And we're hiring business people that have built some of the most successful companies. And the only people getting their ruffles feathered are the people that aren't doing anything, sitting at home collecting a paycheck. It's crazy, David.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
They got to make up shit that doesn't make sense because there's no other thing to do. Right. Right. Like that's the only thing I got to get on this soapbox. I call it the Department of Government Outcomes. We need outcomes from the government. You know, like that's the problem. You have all these politics going on. There's no outcomes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
It's like, oh, we debated this and we debated that and all that. Oh, we won. OK, well, what's the fucking outcome? Like what is what is actually happening from this policy and how is it impacting the bottom line? Every day, American outcomes matter. Politics don't. And so I'm excited. There's going to be some outcomes. I can tell you that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
He'll run you over and then pick you up and tell you something good. Appreciate you, bro. Yeah, man. Y'all both in the Miami. It's like the land of opportunity, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
I mean, what do you make all these cuts they're finding, David?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
Her assistant's mother's assistant knows how to track her Excel sheet. Exactly. So I saw this. Get this. Here's the impact of Doge so far. They wrote in a post on Sunday, it's canceled 22 leases that were not being used at all in the past six days, saving this year alone $44.6 million. Wow. Imagine us as a business. I have seven offices and I use one of them.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
On January 29th, it said that it eliminated 85 contracts related to DEI at more than a dozen federal agencies worth roughly $1 billion to the American economy. It said musketeers have also focused on the U.S. Agency for International Development as a target for central savings. USAID was created in the early 60s to deliver aid around the world.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
The agency controls and operates out of six nations and employs 10,000 people. Its website went dark and its employees were barred entry into headquarters on Monday. Others had their work put on hold. They weren't doing anything. The 2% of the workforce that was actually working in the office couldn't get in. It was mainly the janitors that were cleaning unnecessarily. It's wild, man.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
The volume of inefficiency that has happened. And look, it's something this large. You know there's inefficiency going on. I got a small team, and there's a little bit of inefficiency. It's just sort of the nature of the beast. But some of this stuff is just mind-numbingly stupid, what we were spending money on.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News: DOGE Finding Billions in Government Inefficiency - Progress in Reverse for Haters - Crypto Stalling - Ryan Kaboom!
And the amount of people that have jobs that aren't really jobs, that are being paid to quit that job, And it's like, and here's what's going to happen. These people are going to say, oh, no, I'm not going to take that bailout or whatever to quit. Well, then you're going to be fucking fired in about six months. So I'd take the money.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
I just don't know how we didn't know this was coming. Right. Or did they know? And they just kind of let it happen. And if anyone on NVIDIA's board sold like lots of stock last week, I'd be watching that drill.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. Battleship. Deep Seek. Sinks. Mothership. I'm ready for it. So anyway, you never know geopolitical warfare. That's not funny necessarily, but we do need to just kind of laugh and take a break every now and then. That's what we try to do on this show. Like just a little breather, a little perspective, but still makes you scratch your head just a bit. What else we got in the news?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Lots of shit going down, and it's just a little bit of a blur because I'm in a busy season with work and other things, still hiring a few people and doing things. So I'm not as in tune to my X updates or breaking news things. I think sometimes something that somebody will tell me about or text me about in the morning, by the time I've learned about it in the afternoon, it's on to something else.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Oh, I saw this. It was really interesting article. It says, Basically, 40% of people lie on their resumes. I was like, ah, only 40%? You know, being a business owner, I look at them sometimes like, hmm. But yeah, there's a report out that says 40% of people are lying, either misstating things they did or didn't do, companies they may or may not have worked for, et cetera.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
That surprising to you, Chris?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
That seems like something that's kind of like traffic lights that you sit at for too long. You know, we've got AI, all this technology. Like, why are we like resumes? Like, we chat GPT and AI or something. Like, there should just be a way to summarize all this stuff down and make it factual. It seems dated.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Give me the characteristics of this person based on the combination of their four social media platforms.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Give me a likelihood to stay in the job, to get promoted, to seek equity, or to steal company secrets. If I exist. Yeah. Oh, definitely.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yes. I'd say so. Trump says Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok. That was fast. Yeah. We were down, back up. Now Trump, now he's got Microsoft in the deal. Said former President Donald Trump confirmed Microsoft's negotiations to acquire TikTok. He expressed interest in a competitive bidding process for the platform. The app with approximately 170 million U.S.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
users briefly went offline on January 19th due to a law requiring ByteDance to sell or face a ban. Trump signed an executive order delaying the enforcement by 75 days. Yep, we'll see. Microsoft. It wouldn't surprise me. I mean, why wouldn't they be interested in the data, the popularity, you know? Right. Bill Gates is no dummy, you know?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Not dumb. I don't know, man. I don't even get on TikTok right now. I'm the last person. that should be even thinking about it. I just, I, I just don't have enough time in my days like down that vortex anymore.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. Yes. That gateway drug, man. You don't want to start with that, you know, get into that, you know, like social media. Yeah. All the cool kids. World's richest people lost $108 billion after that deep seek sell-off. That's a lot of money.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Well, and how is the gain, though? All this is balancing out, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Probably are. Yeah, I guess so. I got to know, you gave the stock update or the crypto update while I was talking with DeepSeek. Is XRP going to keep going up higher? Are you hearing anything about the XRP?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
I bought it for $0.77. It said $3.06 at the time of this recording.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. I need people to hold it a little longer. I need that thing to go like $10. I hope it does. I'm just kidding. I'd like to hold it for a while. That was when I was just thinking, okay, this one's going to ride the long haul. You know, like be one of those next $10, $20 coins. You're always in the green if you wait long enough, usually. Usually.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
But like you said, man, the crypto market's just volatile enough that I'm kind of like... I don't know where to really put the dollars right now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. Safest. Those are just boring. I need my, I need my, my COVID crypto days back. I need my 400% a day drops, you know? Yeah. I, they're out there more than ever.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Is there anything that surprised you the most, Chris, about the last couple weeks?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah, we got a bit of breaking news here. Breaking news, breaking news, at least for us and this show. It won't be breaking news by the time you hear it. We do pre-record our Friday episodes so that you can get it at 5 a.m. when you're on that treadmill or doing whatever you're doing. The Fed has held interest rates steady. So we have the interest rates stayed.
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Benchmark interest rate between four and a quarter and four and a half percent. So it's held steady. Donald Trump had, you know, wanted to pressure it. He wanted them to come down. But I think the threat of inflation is, They have kept it where it's at. No rush to cut rates further, according to the central bank. So those interest rates are staying right where they're at, buddy.
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Just in general. With either the business news or the political landscape.
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Those banks are going to keep banking.
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Well, I think that's got to come down. I get the inflation thing, but I just think the markets start really banging if we can get those interest rates down another point, point and a half. Everything starts flowing, all the money. All around the real estate, man. You get those houses selling, you get money in the market, cash, equity. It impacts everything.
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Oh, yeah. What else we got today's news? Costco's got strikes going on. Trump suggests axing federal income tax, returning to the richest period in history. We talked a little bit about this pre-episode. I'm all for it, baby. Instead of taxing, U.S. citizen Trump wants to tariff and tax foreign nation. Sounds good to me. Taxation is tyranny. It is.
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Yeah. First federal income tax was passed on February 25th of 1913. Unconstitutional. Part of the 16th Amendment. The Treasury data indicates that $4.92 trillion was collected in federal income taxes for the 2023 filing year. $4.92 trillion out of everybody's pocket. And the roads still suck. I know that's state taxes. And they still got no fires in the water hydrants in California.
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Yeah, exactly. And all we're doing is funding shit that we don't really want, I think, sometimes. I think there's stuff that we do want. I know. But Ukraine? But, like, it's like I think we just... Yeah, keep it... That I can get behind understanding that we've got to have that defense fund. I don't know about war specifically, but defense spending. But...
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can Elon Musk and Donald Trump and all the teams, can they not figure this out? Can they not get it? You know, it's just to me, tough choices, too many, too many layers and too many connection points. And I don't know how we'd ever get to that point of no income tax. I mean, do you really see that as a possibility? Yeah.
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I feel like you want to expound there, Chris, but you're kind of holding back. I have a lot of strong opinions on it.
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Yeah, exactly. That's all another, that's an episode in itself. Yeah. Superbowl ads, $8 million a piece. Run a Super Bowl commercial on Fox. How many seconds? I think that's for the 60-second ad, like a longer version, not just the 30. They sold 10 spots, $8 million apiece. I think that's the longer one-minute versions. 30-second spots are...
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Literally half that, $34 million, said it can escalate by about $100,000 as remaining inventory lessens and game day approaches. This year, the jumping price was closer to $500,000 per spot. But now it's sold out. And you've got Philly playing Mahomes. You know, I wouldn't say I have Chiefs fatigue. Look, great team. One of the greatest players of all time.
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He's going to probably prove out to be one of the best quarterbacks of all time. He probably already has done that, but maybe even the GOAT once it's said and done. Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid. I don't have fatigue, but I'm not a fan. So I'm like, all right. And Philly's won the last couple of years, but I'm going to pull for Philly. And... the old Philly special. Hope that comes out.
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I wish they went on the Philly special again. That's like a trick play, Chris. They pulled that shit out. Let's revolve over years, three years ago. It's awesome. But, uh, The 8 mil on the – I'm trying to think. We talked about this last year, I think. Like Diddy or – not Diddy. Freaking – who was it that ran the spot? It wasn't Diddy. Kanye. Kanye. Kanye ran the Super Bowl spot, right?
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Got those new issues or whatever.
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Yeah. And did – I don't know how much in sales. Yeah. Not sure he got ROI on that or not. But nonetheless, no one's more. It's all about attention. You're buying attention. People are actually paying attention to the commercials during the Super Bowl. So the purists in marketing actually say Super Bowl is the best buy if you can afford it because of how attentive people are on the commercials.
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So you're getting that T-O-M-A, top of mind awareness. And it hanging longer because people were actually, you know, watching with intent because the commercials are usually entertaining. But nonetheless, this is like one of the only places to like, I got to make all their money up because linear TV is dead. Except for sports. Like nobody's watching much linear TV. It's, it's, it's dying.
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You've got streaming and everything else on the rise, but live sports being the one thing that pulls people in. Once those contracts are over, good luck for linear TV. I will say this. It's been fun getting – I have four boys, and I grew up creating baseball cards and basketball cards. I've been getting back into it, Chris, with the boys.
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Yeah, exactly. They could talk a whole episode about California. I again. I don't pretend to understand the logistics of that whole situation, and it's a travesty. I'll tell you what's the travesty. The stock market's been taking a beating this week right to it. Deep seek. The Chinese spinoff of AI and chat GPT supposedly was created with using, you know,
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I brought, so this is why you got to watch the YouTube channel, some of the pulls we've had lately. And hey, if you're listening, you aren't interested in sports cards, then whatever. It's my show. But let me say this. If crypto is kind of doing this... I pulled some real winners, Chris. I mean, I got some dogs right here, man. These things are like Jalen Daniels, rookie cards.
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Look at that shine right there. That's a $250 card my son pulled out of a pack. I bought it. I let him open it. I pulled this guy, Jalen Daniels, silver rookie card, Prism. Somebody's listening and going, oh, yes. The business of sports cards is crazy. I've been going to sports card shops with my boys, like crazy. We went a couple times last week, a couple different shots.
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And the number of people coming in and out of there for sports cards and Pokemon cards, let me tell you, that's a racket right there. It's real business. Lots and lots of people are going to do it. Lots of money. Hey, they didn't make these cool cards like when I came up. You got like one. You might have a little tiny hologram in the corner. Maybe. Those leaf cards, like leaf or whatever they were.
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Now they got shiny everything. But they got too many variations. Let me tell you, Chris, one card has like 37 variations. It's the exact same picture like that. But then four color variations and, you know, prism this, parallel that, diamond this. It's like trying to look up the values. It's like, what did I get here? Did I get something good? You'll have a card. Oh, they'll get you too, Chris.
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You think you're like, dang, that is a cool looking card right there. That's got to be worth something. You can go through the guidebook. It's 74 cents. It's like, what? That should be rare. Then they got numbered cards now stamped on there like this Ricky card. Hey, you may be an offer on Instagram if you want, but it's out of $199. Pretty rare. I think it's going for a hundo.
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I'd sell it for $250. Socks in the office. It is a good segment. I got sports packs here. I brought in like all kinds of things. Anyway, it's a racket of a business. I like it. And look, if you're in G Vegas, my space here at Greenville Social House, I'm opening up to the community. February 22nd, Brian Sports Cards here doing trade night. Five to eight. Kids, adults, come to Social House.
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Five to eight p.m. Saturday. Doing it for the kids, man. And me, the kid at heart. Manny over at Brian's Sports Cards is awesome. If you're in Greenville, go check him out. Brian's Sports Cards. That's his dad, the name Brian. His name's Manny. Great guy, but we're going to have him. So, hey, come stop in G Vegas. If you're thinking about a trip in, this is a good time. Come over and see me.
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Come and socialize. We're going to have, who knows, probably 200 kids in here trading cards. I'm going to walk around looking for some deals, baby. I want those Jalen Daniel rookie cards. Now the football season's over. Let me give you half price. Hustling little ones. Nah, I don't like taking advantage of them. They take advantage of me, man.
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They're smart, man. They know all that stuff. I'm the one that's got to look up the value. I'm like, wait, wait, wait. You want to do what? My kids try to do it to me. My kids are like, dad, I'll give you this for like four of the, I'm like, what? It's a great hobby. For learning negotiation and business and margins and stuff. That's what I want to get my kids. They started getting into it.
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I'm like, all right, daddy can get back into this. And plus, I will say this. Opening packs is like Vegas. The excitement of ripping a pack is pretty fun.
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It's like a scratch off. It's like, what am I going to get? Yeah, exactly. And if you're listening, you're... Oh, so you've got ASMR, the pack opening. I'm going to, I'm going to open this and just roll. I smell good too. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like the computer printing, like paper playing cards. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. If this has, I'm going to open a pack on the show.
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Like every time, if there ends up being like something special in here, we've got Phil Sims, old school cards. So Phil Sims, this is the prism 2024, uh, Pack ripping. First edition here on Right About Now. It's a business show. The business of sports cards is maybe more lucrative than you'd think. It can also be. Hey, Saquon Barkley talked about Super Bowl.
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He's had the best playoffs, probably the best season running back in history or real close. Literally hot, hot card, especially this one's just the base, but still anything with Saquon's like turning to gold right now. He's the man. That's a good sign for things to come in here. Here's somebody that's not had such a great couple years. My boy Deshaun Watson. I love him. He's a Clemson guy.
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But it's been bad news bears all around. Hopefully his Achilles is there. We got Mark Andrews, Josh Jacobs, Quentin Johnson, two Phil Simms in the same pack. Oh, one's silver. Wait a second. This would be a good thing, Chris. See the difference? In the base card, can you see the difference on the screen? You see the holo? I actually can't because it's a bit blurry. You can't see it as much.
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What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's Friday, January 31st, our weekly marketing and business news of 2025. Almost through the first month, end of the month, but it's not the end of always having my good buddy, My partner in crime, Chris Hansen. What's up, Chris? What's up, Brian? How you doing today? I'm good, man. You know, just all in the news. All up in the news.
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But if you're watching on YouTube now, you'll be able to see it. One, this one, has that holo that's hitting the light. This one, not so much. This one worth more. That makes a big difference. I had a card, Chris, with those non-holo. like a dollar. The hollow version was 150.
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its own technology that uses way less energy, way less resources. And, you know, it was way better. I'm some, I'm really simplifying, but that's the gist of it. Am I, am I summarizing correctly, Chris?
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Mark Andrews. Yep. Eric Dickerson, green card, old school, Eric Dickerson. Don't get too excited though. Those greens ones, they look good. Oh, that's the shiny green. It's got a hollow too. About two bucks. Better than nothing. Kenneth Walker Jr., Jalen Polk, Dak Prescott, red, white, and blue. Oh, boy. I just saw something, Chris. But Dak Prescott, red, white, and blue card.
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Chris can't totally see it because it's a little fuzzy on his side the way we do the recording, but you'll see it. Red, white, blue, Dak Prescott. That's about $10. Kenneth Walker. Oh, boy. J.J. McCarthy. Prismatic rookie card. J.J. McCarthy didn't play much this year, but that's a hot card right there. Minnesota, he's predicted to be a star.
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The quarterback class, Chris, of 2024 is all really hot. This might be a $20 card right here, Chris. Maybe higher. Right out of that one pack. That pack costs $15. So money made right here. I'd say $30, $40 worth of cards, even at probably like eBay values for 15 so far, Chris. And to throw it on top, Brian Thomas Jr., the number one receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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Rookie card, prismatic, Chris. I'm telling you, that's another probably $10, $5, $10 card. But again, $40 in value, Chris, for 15. You can't do that on crypto. Still. This is not investment advice. This is just me opening up. There's a lot of nobody names that I don't know, too. But there's somebodies. They're in the NFL. But, hey, it's fun. I recognize about two.
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And look, if you enjoyed this segment and you shoot me a DM on Instagram, I'll send you a free pack on me. I put my money where my mouth is. Send me a message. It's freepack, P-A-C-K, on Instagram. I'll send you a free pack of sports cards on me. See who's paying attention, who's listening, Chris. There you have it. Yet another angle here. We're giving you all angles.
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We're giving you crypto angles. We're giving you the behind-the-scenes of the AI situation, sports cards. And February 22nd, come to Social House. Come check out Trade Night. It's going to be fun here. Chris, any final words today?
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Get after it. Yes, right. February 1, tomorrow. Feb 1. January, like a flash. We appreciate you. Go to RyanIsRight.com. Find all the highlight clips. Find all the good stuff from the shows. Links to Chris's hair products and those glasses he's wearing. We'll put those in the show notes if he lets us. And ultimately, all where you can find us. I appreciate Chris for being on the show.
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Appreciate all our sponsors. Exponent. Independent Center. Branded Bills. Shiny cards. These things are hot, baby. Man, they look nice too. Oh, that's a green prismatic. It's actually worth more. Like a kid at a candy store. We appreciate you. We'll see you next time. Right about now.
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This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. Low cost model outperforming, you know, so it's by every market when it related to computers, chips, Nvidia, all this stuff, everything's down, right? Cost of the software, hardware landscape.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. Like COVID comes, you know, I don't know that it snuck up on us. I mean, it was kind of, you know, three to four months, you know,
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Yeah. It's because everything they did was built on less advanced NVIDIA chips. So it's, you know.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. Watch the stock. Go look at the trade market, like Chinese stocks.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah, exactly. It derailed NASDAQ, NVIDIA, and all AI darlings. The deep seek launch. NVIDIA's stock has plummeted 20 plus percent, wiping out 600 billions in market value. That's a lot of money, man. A lot of dough. A lot of dough. Uh, Google, Microsoft, and Palantir experienced significant losses. Meta booked the trend, rising 2%. Haven't been as much on the AI bandwagon.
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Even though it's in it, it kind of drives me crazy on Instagram, the whole AI search thing. It's not a basic search. It's annoying. I don't need AI in everything in my life. Yeah. It makes you... We're skeptical here anyway. I am. And so it makes you wonder about the... Did China just figure out how to copy all the code, make it a little better and cheaper? I mean, is that...
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essentially what's going on here.
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Copy it and make it cheaper. Nice watches, uh, generators, bags, shoes, handbags.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah. Timu, uh, go down to, uh, go and see New York. What's the, the spot. Uh, I freaking lived in New York. Canal Street. Go to Canal Street in New York, get you some AI chips or some Louis Vuitton handbags. It's fascinating. It just wiped out billions of dollars. And it makes you... I get skeptical on both. Don't get me wrong. Hey, we're Americans. We're pulling for the team America here.
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But it makes me skeptical on both sides. Like if it's truly... Did they really innovate that fast over and above U.S. intelligence? Was U.S. companies just using more resources and more costs to drive more market value? You know, like my head goes in a lot of different directions of where are the nefarious players at? We know China's nefarious on some level.
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I mean, I know that, but it has me also considering the other angles, right? Yeah. Who benefited from needing as much power and energy and chips and everything from these softwares versus what China seemingly figured out using a lot less? I don't know.
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We will see. I think I'm going to go ask DeepSeek how this is going to play out. Here's the prompt. AI bot, that's what I'm going to call it, AI bot, leveraging Internet knowledge and past historical points of view.
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All up in it, baby. That's where we like to be. All up in the news. That could have been the name of the show. All up in it. The news. Deep in it. Deep in the news. I had a buddy who suggested the name Funny Business. I thought that was kind of clever, you know, but Hey, nothing's funny. Not everything's funny. We have a good time, but we try to bring you all the latest breaking insight.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
How would you predict the current predicament between China and the United States playing out, given the fact that DeepSeek was developed mimicking much of the features, but better at lower cost than its U.S. counterparts? What would be three ways with which this might play out on the geopolitical landscape? That should have been a good episode right there, Chris.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
We could have asked Deep Seek what it is. The question is, have they locked it down on the phone yet? Because I downloaded it. Yeah, I gave them my data to see. It seems to still be up on my phone and working. I'm going to ask it this question. Chris, while you tell us what's happening with crypto today.
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Now there we have, we did. Okay. It's still building boy. It's deep. Oh boy. Here we go. I'm going to have to summarize deep sea. Cause I'm going to tell you what I asked it. Tell it to summarize. I probably could talk to you like it. So, uh,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
I said, given your understanding of the geopolitical landscape, how would you envision the situation with China and the United States playing out, given DeepSeek being developed at such a lower cost and lower resource than other United States counterparts? I got 10 items, one being technological and competitive innovation. Advantage, China.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Lower development costs could allow China to scale and deploy technologies like DeepSeek more rapidly, potentially gaining a competitive edge in areas such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and other tech-driven sectors. The response from the U.S. from this advantage. The U.S.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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may respond by increasing investments in domestic innovation, tightening intellectual property protections, or imposing restrictions on Chinese technologies to maintain its competitive advantage. Economic implications. Market penetration.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
If DeepSeek offers comparable or superior capabilities at a lower cost, it could gain significant market share globally, including in the U.S., potentially disrupting existing U.S. tech companies. The U.S. might impose tariffs or other trade barriers to protect domestic industries, escalating economic tensions between the two nations.
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I'd say the insights on the news and our take on kind of what's going down. Like we mentioned last week, before we could announce the decline of TikTok, it had already gotten back up. So, you know, we have a highlight clip out there actually kind of painting that reality of how fast the news cycle and Trump continues to move fast. So...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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geopolitical tensions pretty pretty spot on so far chris and it's you know i'm enjoying political analysis right yeah hey it's a nice breakdown keep going yeah global influence soft power china's ability to produce advanced technologies at lower costs could enhance its soft power particularly in developing countries seeking affordable and effective solutions The U.S.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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might strengthen alliances with like-minded nations to counterbalance Chinese growing influence, leading to a more polarized global tech landscape. Not bad. Not bad. There's data privacy and surveillance. Concerns over data privacy and the potential for surveillance could lead to stricter regulations on Chinese technologies in the U.S. The U.S.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
might emphasize ethical AI development as a differentiator, contrasting its approach with China's more state-driven model. Not overall reading the rest there. I'm digging it. Like, yeah, that sounds about right. And it fails to mention that the hundred billion, one trillion dollar wipe off of the stock market. Lots of very rich people not very happy. Yeah, that in itself is a weapon.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Yeah, exactly. Weaponization of technology. Hey, there you go. That could be the name of today's podcast. Weaponization of tech. When tech has weapons. Yes. I mean, it's serious stuff, but it's like, there you go. Deep seek. Quick, responsive, and free. I just wish all the stuff I got from China was that way. That's most of it we're getting on Amazon nowadays. I know. It's actually good stuff.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
I don't mean to knock all Chinese manufacturers. There's probably some hardworking people there making a lot of good shit that we use. But nonetheless, they shouldn't be allowed to copy our software if that's what's happened here. That's the bottom line. Innovate on your own dime. And I'm not smart enough to know. Someone else will figure that out.
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but somehow we still don't know where COVID started, you know, fully. Like there's a lot of conspiracy theories, but nothing's like a hundred percent in a, in the what history Bible. So, uh, Whether we find out exactly the origins of deep seek, all these names are so compelling and deep seek naming conventions. It's like, I like deep seek better than I like open AI chat GPT. Yep.
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DeepSeek Turns into DeepSink for US Stock Market
Give one more sense, you know, strike one for the brand box for them, but the name, But I don't know. It wiped off a lot of value on the U.S. market. So it's having play. And it'll be interesting how Donald Trump sort of navigates this. He's got enough fires to put out, you know, and just you got to choose your battles. This one could be worth it. It just depends on what they find out.
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This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
So I need the sentiment to be higher, not because any administration or policy is in my personal way as an entrepreneur, but I just know things move, the money moves, the sales moves, everything moves better when this is where it needs to be. And that's the point of this rant, if you call it. is somebody's got to take accountability and responsibility for driving this up.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
Because it's a slippery damn slope. Let's just say that with where things could go. Because people start tightening up on everything and your interest rates don't go down. Just be careful in the short term while you play the long term. We need that morale up, you know? Yeah, exactly. It's kind of like the old team. You know, you've got a team of players out on the court.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
I mean, if you can't make them believe, no matter how good, bad, or different it is, they're never going to play well. And we need to get some cheerleaders. And, you know, again, I like the theory of what I'm hearing Elon's doing. it sounds great, but I don't know that he's the cheerleader.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
He's the, he's a pioneer and an innovator, but I don't know if he's going to lead the rally of the, of the, the sentiment. I think you're going to have to have somebody else doing that. And I think it's going to have to be driven by, okay. The enactment of, of certain things, but both telling the plan, but yeah, We need those interest rates to go down. Yeah.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
And many of the policies, I think, we tend to agree with directionally. But at the same time, a word of caution has kind of been coming from us with things lately, how we've felt like, at least in our circles, things have felt. And the studies have come out on the overall consumer sentiment, how people are feeling, both currently and future thinking, because it's also built into that.
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And if you still have inflation hovering, they're not going to want to do that. But that loosens up money in the market. We talk about that a lot. And, you know, refis and sells. Because that's the biggest transaction most people have. And so it's the moment in time when their most amount of money in one direction or the other goes in and out of hands.
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And the residual leftover of money made on a sale, refinanced, is when you get that injected into the overall economy. And... It feels stalled right now as much as anything. I don't personally feel like I see the doom and gloom. It's more this really hard pause that's happening right now. It just feels like if you were walking, we're stuck in mud.
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When you're stuck in mud, you take one step forward, you think you're out of the mud, you're kind of still in it. kind of like the crypto you know up 10 one day down 11 the next it's like all right can we get unstuck here a little bit can we get a a little ride of of good news we'll see what happens um I'm going to jump ahead here.
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A couple of retail things I don't think are necessarily related to this economy. I think this is more trends overall, Chris. But Forever 21 and GameStop, both closing retail stores. Forever 21 expected to close all U.S. stores. That damn Sheen and Timu. The cheap e-com came and got them. I do see Sheen everywhere.
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it's all over the place the ads are everywhere and it's so cheap yeah i mean i've never purchased from it but i know it's very popular with the ladies i've bought a couple things like two years ago maybe and at the time i thought it was pretty decent i mean it's like a 10 t-shirt or something and it was like or a fashionable type t-shirt i was like this is kind of cool but i'm i'm i'm a
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I'm a double XL slim fit. So I'm a, I'm a weird, a weird, uh, size fitting and it did. Okay. Not perfect. I have to buy from certain companies to get the fit I want, but I was impressed with the overall quality for like a $10. It was better than I would have thought. So, I mean, it's hard. Like we joked about the malls closing.
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It's like, but you know, this generation, my kids still love to go to the mall, the mall rats. I don't, but the thing is, I don't know if anybody's buying at the mall anymore.
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You know, like when you and I went to the mall, maybe like 30, 20, me, me 30 years ago, you 20 years ago, like the, the parents were at least buying, you know, and the kids may have just been walking around being mall rats, but someone was buying because e-comm wasn't what it is today. It's like, can the malls, can they survive?
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Yeah. Well, they become the window shopping for online buying, right? Yeah. A little bit, especially if it's the same brand. Because if you go look at something online, You go to like, I don't know, like an Express or some store like that where maybe they don't have your size, but you can go look at the actual quality, like the exact item or something. Then you buy it online.
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And I mean, Express is still getting the sale maybe, but that brick and mortar is not. So... I don't think we've seen the end of this bloodbath of stores. I don't think all stores will go away. I just think you're going to see this centralization of, okay, Walmart, super stores, which is the equivalent of, you know, gigantic Amazon store.
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But like, you know, discount stores like that, I can see doing well. Large stores where you can get lots of different things. Convenience still a factor. But then these kind of niche things, you can get it online and the tools for buying online have gotten so much easier and the shipping's gotten better.
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What's your prognosis? How do you feel about the future? And some of these numbers are staggering. And I think we're at a real pivotal point where the policymakers and the Central Reserve and a lot of people really need to take a look at this because. People think with their head and they buy with their heart. And literally, people are not buying.
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And really the overall expectation, people have just gotten used to what to expect buying online.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. Here's what it said. Forever 21's brand name and international business will come under authentic brands group. Our U.S. licensees decision to restructure presents an opportunity to modernize the brand. Possible revival if a new U.S. operator takes over. We've lost over 400 million in the last three years, including 150 million in 2024 alone. Jumping ahead here.
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The GameStop closing a significant number of stores and will invest heavily in Bitcoin. It's an interesting headline for a company, right? It's like, well, how is one related to the other? Massive store closures. A thousand stores shut down globally in the past year. 590 in the U.S., 320 in Europe. It's now at 3,200 stores, Chris, down from 6,000 a decade ago. So a cut in half.
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Probably cut in half again.
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It says consumers moving to digital game purchases and streaming. Part of a broader retail decline with brands like Joanne, Forever 21, Kohl's, and Macy's also closing stores. GameStop to invest a portion of its cash reserves in Bitcoin.
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Yeah. The pivot to Bitcoin is really a defense against irrelevance. It says an odd thing is it's basically saying the strategy isn't retail, but to act as some kind of cryptocurrency investment vehicle.
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It is interesting because then it becomes, if you're buying the GameStop stock, it's hard to say. Two words, GameStop stock. Why not just buy crypto then? Like, if the whole company is, if they're putting reserves in, their value will be driven by whether Bitcoin grows. It's like, you're kind of, what are you buying into?
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Kind of like a reseller of this, you know? You can buy direct. Do you buy it through GameStop? Who's investing? I guess you still have this side of the business that is retail. So I hope that it pivots to something different. I guess as far as knowing that they won't go bankrupt would keep your interest in the stock, I guess. But at a certain point, you can't spend half your money on Bitcoin.
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And then why not just buy Bitcoin versus buying GameStop?
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Because you had that whole stock jump on this thing. Well, they go to $200. It's crazy. Talk about sentiment driving behavior. You know, like that's a whole case study in itself. Emotional. Lever's pulling it. Yeah, GameStop shares soared 16% in pre-market trading. So, hey, close some stores and your stock goes up. I mean, I guess it's all about profitability. I get it.
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You've got money staying on the shelf if there is some. You've got tightening of the wallet overall. You've got interest rates that have been stagnant and real estate market that's stagnant in a lot of markets.
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It's just, it's... Do you get happy about the stock going up or you get sad about the stores closing? You can't fight... I'll answer my own question. You can't fight the reality of online and especially this like digital games like you can download them like you don't need the physical. I hate the like I was the first guy to get rid of every CD and DVD I owned, you know, before there was Netflix.
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Like it was like the moment that I could do digital like hard drive driven all my stuff online. I was there. I was like, get rid of this. Those racks. You remember those racks? The racks. Everybody had them in their house. Racks of CDs, racks of DVDs. It was almost like a, I don't know, a trophy of, all right, look at all those DVDs. Yeah, man. You got that whole collection. All right.
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Yeah, it's just collecting. One more thing you have to dust off. Or not dust off. If you're a college kid like I was. And, oh, look at all that CD collection, man. Let me go through your collection. Think of how foreign things become, I guess, technology changes. It's like, you know, like, oh, let me see your CD collection. Go through it, man. Oh, the Cranberries. You know, they got that one song.
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And I think we're coming to a head with where if we don't get ahead of getting consumers feeling positive about the changes, feeling positive about the economy, feeling positive about the potential of real estate opportunities, we're in for a tough road. And the sentiment of the country drives the economic behavior of the country. and we're going to dive deep into that today.
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That's a good one. That lingered. I had like 50 bootleg Dave Matthews CDs, like every concert. That's how I used the internet when it first started, was just in college trading live Dave Matthews shows. I was a pioneer. Oh, I had tapes. Oh, I had a tape collection, like 100 tapes.
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Oh, yeah, I was pirating there. But Dave didn't care because he was smart. That's why he got so big because they didn't police that. They let it happen naturally. The story there, that's an economic story right there, how to get big. Don't get in the way of spreading the news because we still went to all the concerts, bought the T-shirts, did all the stuff.
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They made all the money by not getting in the way of the spread of people getting to hear their music. Anyway, I digress. Oh, man, that brings back some memories, dude. Oh, the work involved, man, with tapes and CDs burning and failing. Oh, God. How bad was it when you'd be burning a CD and how many times would it fail on the burn? The fact that there's a laser in your computer burning a CD.
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I guess it's not that different than the hard drive now, like saving shit, but it's just the wild times, man. I've looked at analog digital, man. I'm on all sides of it. Like, it's... Analog digital conversion. Crazy. And that's what really what we're talking about with the stores and retail and e-com and all that is this movement from physical to digital. But we do still have to wear the clothes.
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You know, so whether it's Sheen or it's done an order at e-commerce, until we're living, the day will come, Chris, where it's just a digital close because you never leave your house except digitally. That's the shit that gets scary, right? Yeah, I don't want to live in that world. I don't either, but you could, can you not? There used to be a time where I couldn't see that coming.
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I could, I'm not saying that I'm going to embrace wanting to do that, but can't you see that? I can totally see that now.
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Yeah. And it will matter what your skin is and all that. I mean, my kids already care. You can... Like, I will watch my kids playing Fortnite and they'll spend as much time playing the game as they do picking out their skin before they go and who they're going to be. Like, literally sitting there going through it, like toiling over it. Like, I'm like... That really matters to them.
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That's how they show off. You know, me growing up, it was wearing Meyer Jordans like for the first time. And they care about that stuff too, which, you know, it's more money. But it's that skin on Fortnite. Dressing up as, you know, Wimby or something. Like playing Fortnite as Wimby. Or one of the NBA players or LeBron James.
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or a banana, a banana character, which my oldest son does, which kind of trolls everybody. He likes to just kind of do the stupidest shit. And cause he, he wants people to think that, that he thinks that that's cool when he doesn't, he's actually, it's reverse psychology. Like he wants to do the stupidest thing.
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This is what you have. Look forward to Chris. You have kids. If you have kids, To be determined. Yeah. Never know. What else we got in the news today? Any other big news? Boston Celtics was sold for a record-breaking $6 billion. Boston Celtics have been sold for 6.1 billion big ones, setting a North American sports franchise record. led by William Chris Holm, a billionaire from private equity.
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Of course he is. Includes Robert Hale, current Celtics investor, and Bruce Beal. Bill is a terrific person, a true Celtics fan. Born and raised here in Boston. Grossbeck bought the team in 2002 for $360 million. It's a nice investment there, Chris. You bought it for $360,002. By math, what, 23 years later, you sell it for $6 billion? It's a nice return on investment.
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But I think it's time that we really point out, hey, let's talk the good, bad, and the other. We take the BS out of stuff. We're going to take it out today. And so we're going to dive deep into some of these stats. I think some might be surprising, some might not be, and talk about a few other business updates of the day here on the Business News of the Week.
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What is that, 30X? That's nice, man.
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Yeah. Yeah. 6,000, is it 30X? Isn't that like, I don't even do that math. That's a lot of numbers, man. I mean, $6 billion is a lot of damn money. Especially for a sports team. It is, but I mean, they make a lot of money, man. All the rights, all the stuff. It is huge business. Especially those sports cards. That's what it is. Yeah. 1,600% increase in value over 23 years.
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All right, there's the math. Not bad. Not bad. That's what I need a crypto to do, Chris. What's XRP? I'm going to look it up right now while we're doing it. I'm going to see it because I put, you know what? I bet I got so tired of looking at like seven things that I only had like a little bit in. I moved it all to XRP just so I had one thing to look at.
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I just consolidated it. Let's see where we're at today. Bear with us here. Up, down. Yet again, on the week, we're down 4.74%. We're sitting at, yeah, we're down 7 cents today, 1%. Chris, I mean, it's just like, oh, this chart's like my EKG.
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No, I look at it like that's the first time I've looked at it like once a week. I take a peek. I'm like, all right, whatever.
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Yes. It's these three words that I ask and everyone should ask themselves to what end? Everything we do, every dollar we spend, you know, like not psychoanalyzing everything, but like to what end? Like to what purpose? And that's what we're asking. You know, we've been doing all sports cards lately, and I want to be equal opportunity because the kids are into everything.
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And we've been doing the whole thing on trading cards. We're starting a series on the trading card business with our guests. So we're going to be having some big guests in on the show in the trading card business. Got some good names lined up. We'll be announcing that shortly. We're starting recording next week with some of those. Talk about the business of trading cards.
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Chris, I know, I mean, let's just jump right into it, man. We've been kind of talking about this, like, I think more our own sentiment, right? The last few episodes, like, eh, look, we need some good news. Feels a little gloomy, a little flat, a little stagnant.
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It is like the stock market in a lot of ways for another potential investment avenue, but also fun. And we've been doing sports cards, but today, hey, I'll go tell you this much, Chris. If you want to know the one thing sold out at every store, it'd be this guy right here. Pokemon. Oh my God. I thought this was like a thing like 10 years ago, like that.
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What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's our weekly business news here on March 28th, 2025. Joined, as always, by Chris Hansen down in Miami. What's up, Chris? What's up, Brian? How are you, bro? I'm good. I'm good. Here in Greenville, South Carolina, our studios here on the Swamp Rabbit Trail at Social House. Chris is down in Miami. We're always here to bring you the news.
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Now you go to a store, every freaking Pokemon rack is empty. I know. Cause my kids are into it and I'm looking to it and maybe I'm into it too, but I like the sports cards better, but, but the kids, my kids like sports cards, but their eyes line up, light up for the freaking Pokemon. Yep. Were you ever into Pokemon, Chris?
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Now there's like 100,000 different characters. But you get these tens, they get two packs. And look, man, they got all these series. The Prismatic series is the hot ones right now. These 151s, just trust me. If you see any Prismatic or 151s and you want a good investment, if you see them for sale, buy them if it's retail.
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Because, Chris, if you find them retail, the certain ones, I mean, they're 4 or 5X. This particular one's goes up a couple bucks. Like, you can buy them retail.
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Oh, yeah. Because, dude, these Prismatic cards, they're like $5 for a retail pack if you find them. You can immediately sell them for $15. It's 3x your money immediately. It's crazy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for watching. Okay. Okay. Thank you. We'll be right back.
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And one of these, which is a survey of consumers from the University of Michigan, the preliminary results for March, looking at the index of consumer sentiment, how do they feel about the country? And it slid another 11 points. We're at 57.9 is the consumer sentiment, which is hovering right around, you know, half feel good, half feel bad. And that's a 27% negative change year over year.
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In March of 2024, we were at 79.4. It's a big drop, dude.
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And you can feel it. Yeah. And, you know, take the who was president out of it. It's just whoever's in charge needs to be paying attention. We can't just heads down a blazing, you know, getting all these policies, you know, all these campaign promises done without recognizing what is the sentiment of... And this is covering Republicans, Democrats, everyone else. Everyone's just kind of...
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Eh, meh about the overall economy. A lot of money is staying put in the wallet, in the savings account, and it's a lot tighter for everyone else because inflation is still an issue. It's not good, man.
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We take the BS out of the news, Chris. And, you know, we're going to be taking the BS today. You know, like, if you listen to and watch our show, if you're not watching and you need to get on YouTube, go check that out. YouTube or Spotify, you can watch, see how pretty Chris is. You never know what he's going to be wearing. Always fashionable. I'm trying to keep up with him. But...
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Yeah. I mean, I like data and facts and right. You know, so we've we've been talking sentiment, talking things like perceptive. And then, you know, you look at this data and, you know, back to the White House, like I think there's got to be some balance here. Like we can want to do the tariff war and it can have positive long term effects, right?
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But it's got to be balanced out with the realities of today and the sentiment today, the inflation of today. And again, I'm not going to sit here as an economic specialist to tell you whether that long term benefit outweighs the short term pressure that we're feeling. I'm not. I don't know. That's past my pay grade. But I will say you can't ignore how the majority of America is feeling.
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It's just reality. And this was the biggest thing. I mean, look at this. Despite their greater confidence following the election, Republicans posted a sizable 10% decline in their expectations index in March. So this isn't partisan. This is everybody.
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It'll come back. I'm going to go through a couple of these other things. While current economic conditions were little changed, expectations for the future deteriorated across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, labor markets, inflation, business conditions, and stock markets. Many consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors.
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Frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult For consumers to plan. There it is right there. You know, like that's it. That's kind of what you were saying. Fixed income. You got this stuff going on. You want to plan. You can't plan when you don't know what the impact of these things are going to do. So there needs to be more discussion about short term, long term.
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And hey, I mean, and this ain't cutting it. There'll be a little pain in the short term. define what that means, please.
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In all seriousness, we lean certain directions. I think we try to keep out of the politics and more of the policies of what we believe in. And I think when things are going good, we talk about how it's good. And I think when things are not feeling good, I think we've been talking about that. In today's episode, we're going to dive deep into some studies and surveys that go on.
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Yeah, because I'm looking for the silver lining. I'm like going, okay, I agree fundamentally with the policy, but I need to see a little silver lining short-term, long-term plan because it could come off like this article, the summary says, as a little bit of gyrating policy.
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Like I, it's kind of pew, pew, but you know, we're shooting bullets and it's like, it's great, but it's kind of like fire aim ready.
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Yeah. Or it's not clear.
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I mean, we need to bring jobs back to the U.S. We need higher pay. Yeah, we need all of that. But what's the balance of the long term and the short term? And a little bit of pain is not a balancing plan.
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Or get the damn inflation down and get, you know, the interest rates cut.
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And cause I'm not sitting here telling you that the, I know that the inactivity and the things that are happening are going to cause necessary short-term pain. But what I am telling you is in my wheelhouse, which is marketing, and back to the buy with their heart, if you want this economy to keep moving, you need this consumer to have an uplifted spirit and a belief in what is happening.
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And you got to get them to buy into that and understand what's happening in the short term to assist them in sustaining either through that short pain or to get them off. I think we got a lot of money that's kind of getting a little shrunk back up. Like, oh, I'm putting, you know, getting tight. All this buying gold because, you know, even in my own mind,
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
Some are yearly, some are quarterly, some are monthly. But it's really about consumer sentiment and about how people feel. You know, I think the numbers probably won't surprise you. They didn't surprise Chris and I as we were looking at them. And we're going to dive deep into that because I think this administration has been guns a-blazing in things that they're doing.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
I didn't think my crypto would double in a month, but I sure as hell didn't think it'd be down 33% in three months. I bet you didn't, Chris.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
Because tell me what's good right now, Chris. Stock market's down.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
That's why we're talking trading cards. That's the only thing that's up.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
Yeah. And I'm not sitting here blaming the administration for all of that. It's really... Regardless of the administration. But it is what it is. Whatever caused it, caused it. Maybe it was already built in. These next six months were going to happen no matter who's in office or what's happening. But the sentiment sucks right now. And so this administration's job is to make it not suck.
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BUSINESS NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Tanking & It's Time for a Plan - Ecomm Coming for more Retail - Your Next Investment Opportunity
Yeah, because my concern is less as an entrepreneur. I'm going to figure mine out. I don't need the administration to figure it out for me. But here's the thing. Anything I sell... is going to be bought by consumers or businesses that are impacted by this sentiment.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
And continual improvement. Yeah. And some people, some people view change and improvement as contrary or different. And I'm not saying they're always the same thing as you can improve, but it's a highly correlated thing. as human beings were kind of built for that.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
I know. And, you know, we're going to get right to the headlines here. I was going through my normal feed of socials. Doing my research for the day. Okay, what are the headlines? What's coming across? And I don't know if there's like the top of the news heap, but I thought it was great. President Donald Trump has announced a new gold card visa program aimed at attracting wealthy foreign investors.
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And I think the reason there's depression and there's reason that these things is like, there's this, we've had this natural bottling up of it, you know, and we figure out, well, why are we so depressed and unhappy? Because we're not changing and evolving and we're, you know, Boston trying to cling to comfort. Yeah. Clinging to comfort and the tick tock vortex, you know, like, uh,
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It's like, that's okay a little bit, but that's just not getting you. And I'm actually going to have the team. You're going to hear a few of these throughout today's episode. I pulled some videos and things that I really like that are related to kind of this show, how we're pushing now, today, action, and how to get ahead. And Plugging in a few of those with beginning to middle end.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
I've had to see a few of those plugged in to today's episode. And it relates to all this stuff. And, you know, on this show, we want to be... It's an opinion show. It's a news show. But we also want to be a beacon of change, innovation, and positivity. But I'm going to do it kicking in the ass a little bit. You know? And believe me, I got the biggest boot right on my rear end, too. So...
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That's what we're here for. Other news. Doge. All about efficiency, baby. Doge climbed $65 billion in total estimated savings as agency efficiency leaderboard is launched.
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The Wolf of Wall Street board up on. We just cut $4 billion. Yeah.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
I can see them in there. Yeah.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
A new leaderboard ranking government agencies by cost-cutting efforts. The leaderboard tracks savings from fraud detection, contract cancellation, renegotiations, asset sales, workforce reductions, and regulatory changes. Look. The government needs innovating. It needs juice. It needs... I know there's arguments on every side about how it's getting done and this, that, and the other.
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And we can nitpick that all we want. But I think we can also agree the same old, same old of doing it is what ain't working. So... let's get a leaderboard. Let's get it. Let's get gold stars on our report card, whatever the hell it is.
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Yeah. You know, like let's incentivize what should be incentivized. Let's not get incentivized to keep things status quo. And, uh, there's a title to this episode. It's book status quo. Yeah. Like a cowboy. Yeah.
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What the hell is going on with crypto, Chris? What crypto, Chris, man? It's like I barely it's like, what is happening?
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This is from the Binance CEO, Richard Tang. He said, it's important to view this as a tactical retreat. Not a reversal. Yes. Crypto has been here before and bounced back even stronger. He said they tend to bounce back stronger after volatility caused by events in the broader economy.
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History has shown that crypto markets react to macro economic shifts much like traditional assets, but they also bounce back with remarkable resilience. Yes.
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Part of me chuckled and thought this was hilarious, Chris, but then I was like, hell yeah. I mean, this is how it should be, right? You want to get in? You pay to get in. You know, bring your money, bring your ideas, bring your innovations. We'll let you into the greatest company. Freudian slip that might actually be becoming true. I was going to say, in a way, yeah. Greatest company.
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Tank said the strong demand for crypto ETFs and ongoing applications for new launches in the U.S. is a positive sign. You know, I'm going to... I think I'm going to go by like... thought that 5k and XR. Yes, you should. I'm going off. I mean, I'm gonna go put my money where I'm out. Cause I'm riding the dip, baby.
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That's what my gut's telling me here. Cause it might, and I can ride it a little longer. I can, I can buy the dip now. And even if it kind of goes for another few months, I can ride the wave back the other direction.
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Exactly. That's right. We've got a sale on crypto here on Right About Now. Available to anyone on your local wallet.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Yeah. Well, the same things happen in the sports car world. We started right in the middle of the NFL season, which it was hot. Oh, man.
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No, but they kind of ride the wave of the Super Bowl by the sport. So I'm talking mainly NFL right now. So NFL, climbing, climbing, climbing. The good players climbing, like Jaden Daniels. Then that Super Bowl dip offseason. Prices just dropped like 50% on certain cards. Just to go back up again, usually at the start of the next season. So it's a little bit of a dip. Hold those cards, boys.
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So I'm holding them. And I'm selling a few, but holding most. And then I'm buying. I'm letting that dip get down low, baby. And I'm buying. Heavy. Heavy. That's the game. Buy low, sell high. Yep. If you're seeing camera two, officially have it. We got our Prism. What do we got today? Hangar box. 20-card hangar box Prism. Universally known as kind of...
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
The best football card right now made by Panini. They have the license for NFL. Hey, it's not cheap. It's about $25 retail box. There's 20 cards in here. You know what I've determined? I think I talked about this last week, Chris. This is legal gambling for children. Children.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Yes. So there you have it. That's why you got to watch the YouTube or our Spotify. You can see live pack opening. We got breaks happening here on right about now with the only benefactor being numero uno and my four boys. We'll get to fight over all this. But no, we got a collection going, man. Cataloging this stuff. Rad rips. We'll have the Instagram page and everything else up soon.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Had to find a way to get the YouTube stars out of the kids. I think it's going to be through sports cards. Playing cards. That's smart. Like unboxing. Yeah, it's fun. Unboxing and then you sell. You sell. So doing breaks, you buy a box. So it's got like, okay, 20, 30 packs in it. You sell individual teams. They get bid on so that you, while we're opening, you get every player for that team.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
So, obviously, you're kind of going for the teams that have the hottest player in that edition. So, you're seeing and watching here on the camera. Going through. And look, this is how it is in these packs. Even if you've got good players in the first top, these are like base cards. Everything's about the add-in cards now. So, it's all about getting...
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Come to country slash company. Greatest company and country. And maybe, hey, if we're going to be, let's start acting like a great company would be a start. If we want to be, what do I say, by, of, and for the people, we need to be better all the way around. So, yeah, if you want to get in here, pony up that gold card, baby.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
No matter who these say, you want those add-in cards. Okay, even Jim Carbaugh. Not bad. And then our silver. Oh, so ladies and gentlemen, I just want to make an announcement here. This is what's known, and you can see this on the screen. You see that hollow? This is Caleb Williams' hollow. One month ago, this is a $300 card. Today, it's about $180 still. $25 box, that's a $180 card right there.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
That's what you call a hit. And if we're looking at grading, you're looking at corners. Pretty sharp. You're looking to see if there's balance in the printing. No major things. That corner looks good. Probably a PSA 9. That's a grading scale. 9 out of 10, which would make this easily 2.250 right now if it got graded out as a 9. So that's a hit, no matter what else we get.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Then these green waves, Jameer Gibbs, Ricky Williams, Keith Byers, so-so up, Xavier Worthy, another big hit. That is the wide receiver from Texas. He ran a 4-2-40 at the combine and had over 100 yards receiving in the Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. We have two Calebs. Okay, so that is probably... You know, a month ago, that's a $30 card. It's probably $15 today.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
But still, you're looking at $200 worth of cards. Another Caleb in the same pack. This is a $15 card, this fireworks card. Okay. Bo Nix. Second most valuable card in the entire set is his cards after Jaden Daniels. This is a $30 card a month ago, probably $15 to $20. We have easily $300 worth of cards value today in that $25 pack. Let's just say, Chris, that was a massive hit of a pack.
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These results are not always typical, people. If we're talking about crypto, that's the best pack I've probably opened in... We opened a lot of packs. Probably two weeks, which is saying something. I'm glad I could do that live for everyone. Me too. Find me on eBay at RadRibs. They'll be for sale later today.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
I'll autograph one for you. Not one of these, but maybe Nate Wiggins, who played at Clemson. Had some good guys in here, but... That's a good pack there. I'm glad I could. Hey, Panini, shout out to you. You have to start sponsoring us so that we can open these on your dime and not ours and get you some sponsorship. We probably at least created, because that is not bullshit, folks.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
That is $250 to $300 on eBay tonight if I want it. Good side hustle. Yeah. So that's gambling, my friend. And we just hit the jackpot. So there you go. Sports cards. It's a business, people, and it's fun. That's the headlines today, Chris, highlighted by my pack hit on the Prism NFL Football 24. Winner, winner. Any final words?
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I want to see card-carrying members, you know, flaunting that thing around.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Time to get after it. One step in front of the other. The status quo is in trouble. You want to get off that ship. You want to get on the action, learning, understanding what's happening in every industry with AI, but not out of fear, but out of opportunity. That's what it's about. It's a great day to be American. Hey, guys, you find us at RyanIsRight.com.
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Highlight clips, full episode, links to Christianized social media, and you never know what other surprises. Shout out to Panini and Bo Nix, baby. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
It's a pathway to U.S. residency and citizenship for individuals willing to invest five million dollars. The gold card provides green card privileges and a route to citizenship for that $5 million investment. It is designed to attract affluent individuals who can contribute significantly to the U.S. economy.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
The new initiative is set to replace the existing EB-5 immigrant investor program, which requires a lower investment and had been criticized for inefficiencies and susceptibility to fraud. Go figure. The administration anticipates the program could generate substantial revenue, potentially aiding in reducing the national debt.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
What's up, guys? Welcome to Write About Now. It's our weekly business news here on... February 28th, the last day of February. I had to process that. I feel like it's like a blink here. So Amazon, you only have 28 days in the month. How'd February get off, only get 28 days?
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
President Trump suggested that selling one million gold cards could yield five trillion. Yeah, that would that would be he suggested. I think that's just math. I don't know. He suggested it's just he didn't create math. That's just math. Right. Doing the old arithmetic on the old calculator on your phone or however you do it. Chat GBT to do that shit. I think my eight-year-old can do that math.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
So I applaud this personally, and I have no idea the impact that it will have. But, you know, pay to play, baby. You want to get in? I mean, you can't help where you were born. But, you know, if you're doing well, you want to come take advantage of the greatest country on earth. That's what you got to do. And come bring your ideas and investments and let's go at it.
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Let's create some more jobs for U.S. people. And, you know, if nothing else, I applaud. We have to try some shit. Throw some shit against the wall. Let's make some calculated trials here that can benefit. The old ways of just doing shit don't work. That's why we're $30 trillion in debt.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Yeah, exactly.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Yeah, write those checks. Pay to get in. Hey, the U.S. has been flipping a lot of bills for a long time. You know, as leaders of the free world, and this isn't arrogance, it's just reality. Like it's time to start collecting.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Yeah, like we're moving into March. 2025 is like a snap of the fingers. Joined by, as always, Chris Hansen down in Miami. What's up, Chris? What's up, man? How are you? Hey, I'm good, man. Just working through the business news here on a Friday for everyone that's listening. So we appreciate you whenever, wherever, however you're listening. Catching us, we know you have choices.
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100%.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
So bring it, baby. And speaking of other impacts, so these tariffs on China, Apple facing tariffs on Chinese imports says it will invest $500 billion in U.S. facilities. That sounds like good news to me.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Apple will invest $500 billion. Yeah, exactly. $500 billion in expanding U.S. facilities over the next four years. The move comes on the company, faces new 10% tariffs on Chinese imports. Apple says the investment will create 20,000 new jobs. He created his tariffs. Trump created his tariffs for Apple's decision saying he's investing hundreds of billions of dollars and others too.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook stated, we are bullish on the future of American innovation. Yeah. We got to start building at home, baby. Just like we talked about all these microcomputers doing AI and shit. This needs to be on our turf, on our terms. Even if it costs more on the front end a little bit, This is part of the game. And yeah, it's global economy. I'm not saying it's not.
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We want it to be global economy. But it can't be at the expense of American people and opportunity and jobs. So there you have it. I mean, it's funny how all this stuff works. Doesn't sound coincidental to me.
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Yeah.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Like it's time for us to get return on investment we've made in the free world.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Well, it's ROI on creating peace and liberty, you know, and not perfectly, by the way. It's messy as hell. But it's time for that shit to come back around the other direction. And so that's what's happening here. It's going to be messy. It's not going to be perfect. There's no perfect path to this. But I like seeing the sentiment and the overall direction and how quickly some of this is moving.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what's moving fast. It's the impact of AI on business worldwide. So a major Asian bank is cutting 4,000 roles as AI is replacing human activities. DBS Bank cuts due to AI implementation. Singapore's largest bank will cut approximately 4,000 temporary-sized contract roles over the next three years. It says permanent staff will not be affected right now.
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The bank plans to also create 1,000 AI-related jobs. Look, I'll say this. Here it is. AI is not going to replace your job. What's going to replace your job is someone that knows how to use AI. So you need to be informed and know how to use it and how to leverage it because AI, Knowledge has gotten real damn cheap. The applying knowledge of the last 30 years that you've gathered is real cheap now.
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Thank you for making us number one. We appreciate you. Chris, what's cooking in Miami? We got the weather. Hey, I got spring fever already. It's the 70s here in South Carolina this week, and I know we'll be back to 50 probably next week. This is what happens late February around here, but I'm enjoying it, man. I'm ready for spring fling.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
That knowledge is out there. The application of knowledge is cheap. Fresh ideas, using AI to work faster, smarter, more efficient, research, to create net new knowledge, to create... fresh ideas, to create fresh processes. That's where the future lies in business and in anything that you're doing. So don't worry about AI taking your job. Just don't think it's going to be status quo.
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If you ain't learning, you ain't growing. You ain't going to be getting a paycheck long either. I'm talking to you, insurance guy, lawyers, some of you guys applying knowledge that's getting easier and freer, a lot more free or available. Look out. I'd be looking for new ways with which to apply your skills.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
I think... Being the economy that we are, the consumerism, I think of this on the plus side. AI and all this stuff is not coming to net cut everyone's job. It's just going to make certain things more efficient, which creates more wealth, which creates a redistribution into different industries. Like things become more accessible. So we spend more money on these things or more energy back.
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To focus on creativity, ideas, innovation.
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That spring new and interesting industries and ideas and things and not the same old, same old. And so they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. There's a lot of old dogs that are going to have to, like, I mean, and this is where, like, I love, I say this because I practice what I preach, like, You know, I've been in business for 20 plus years, but I love change. I love innovation.
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Not all my friends do. And I feel bad for them because it's coming.
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Business News & Trends: Trump's Gold Card Visa Program - DOGE $65B SAVINGS - The Great Sports Card Boom
I don't have a crystal ball for exactly how it's going to impact everything. But it's moving quick. And you got your eyes, you got your head in the sand if you don't think it's coming for the status quo. AI is just coming for the status quo. It's not coming for everything. It's coming for the status quo. It's a status quo killer. That's the soapbox for today, my friend.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Starbucks is laying off over a thousand corporate workers. I... AI is not in this headline, but I'll let you kind of judge. Eliminating 1,000 corporate jobs and closing several hundred open positions. It says its goal is to simplify operations, remove layers, and increase efficiency. That sounds like AI to me. Somewhere in there. But nonetheless, I do think...
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everything comes in seasons and it's like, you know, you've got Trump and you've got the Doge government efficiency, You're going to see this sort of trickle down. Everybody's sort of getting with the program a little bit that there's a lot of fluff, a lot of waste, a lot of inefficiency that's going on. And you look around and you figure, I've done it with my business the last six months.
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Then like, all right, why are we still doing this? Why are we doing like this doesn't make any sense. And even at the highest levels for hundreds of thousands of jobs, these major corporations are looking around going, wait a second. Are we still doing that? And I think some of that's fueled by it was coming anyway.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And then a lot of it, I think there is the sort of flow that happens when, you know, you're seeing Trump and Elon in the news every day talking about these types of things and the opportunity to cut waste. It's interesting, but it does seem to have a trickle down effect, doesn't it?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
But I do, and this is as much for me as it is anyone listening, is for us all to kind of remember. If you expect something, you got to inspect it. Reflections on that?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yep. Be part of the solution that you seek.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yes, I agree. Look, I mean, Chris already nailed it. And when Chris says it and he said multiple things, but he's, he talked about personal branding, you know, podcast. I mean, podcasting is kind of like the ultimate, like, I don't know, channel, I think for a personal brand. And look, we can, there's people right now that are hearing that word and rolling their eyes and all that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And there's people that I respect a lot that hate that word. I don't love it, but I haven't come up with a better word. It's really just, Expanding your reputation, sharing your reputation and it with more people, amplifying what you want the world to know you are known for or good at. And so podcasting is an amazing forum for that. And look, this genie is not going back in the bottle.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Is that diminished? The party's still like gigantic, huge, and I'm just old and not in the circle anymore.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
More 18 to 34 year olds listen or watch podcasts than they do watch television. The election was determined by podcasts and the candidates that went on them that didn't because of the influence that it has. And audio and video and social media, the combination of multi-platform and podcasting is tremendous democratization of media that allows anyone to have their voice heard.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And you should be leveraging it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yes, you should. We're doing a growth network. We're helping shows of all sizes grow, monetize, and have business outcomes. Because if it doesn't have a business outcome, it's like my good friend on Friday said, what you doing, building a clubhouse? Is that a hobby? Yeah. No, it's not a hobby. It's a business. It can be.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
It can have business outcomes, but you got to join the Radcast Network to get there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I'm going to let Chris start there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
So you speak back gold. Some people still think it is. It's not.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I think we're going to do some crypto challenges in 2025. We'll do some on-screen stuff. Maybe we'll do some like, we'll do the Right About Now crypto fund. And maybe Chris and I will throw like a thousand bucks each in there. I don't know, something. And like, we'll watch what happens as a standalone, like its own little account.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
You know, and whatever comes out of that, like all the profits we'll give to like Sawyer and Brianna.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Spread them with the team, but just to show the love. That's a good idea. I like that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
All right. Which one was first?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah, we'll come back to that one. We'll come back to serve others. Be radically different. Own your different. One of the smartest people I know, Chris Lockhead, he's coined that phrase, you know, own your different. I'm the rad guy. So I always add, you know, be radically different, which is being different is important, but I think push it further than you think.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. We're headed on our trip, like, the day after. So we kind of are distracted even more than normal packing and otherwise. But even the last few years...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Lean into it so that it becomes radically different. You stand out. Don't stay, you know, like got a lot of parodying going on. A lot of like copycat stuff. Like be yourself. Own it. You know, you're going to. You're going to piss off people no matter what. I know. Look, I piss off more people when I'm trying not to piss off people. So let me just tell you, just be you, baby.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And lean into what you're good at. You can follow your passion, but follow what you're good at. But you'll become passionate about what you're good at. And you get good at things that differentiate you. Differentiation is the king of success, ultimately. And it doesn't, I'm not saying to just make up crazy wacky shit. I'm saying like, just be unapologetically you and see where the chips fall.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Unless, you know, you're a serial killer or something.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Get some help. You know, Luigi or whoever. God, geez. But who fucking knows what's going on with that. But like, but seriously, just be yourself. You know, I mean, so it sounds cliche. Oh, be yourself because everybody else is taken. But it's true. It's so true.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Correct. Anything to add to that one, Chris?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yep. Yeah, that's the thing. If you want to be happy, you got to be yourself. And it will bring other people. It's like a magnet for the right things and the right people. Especially when you're stacking the wins and the right things. And none of us are perfect. None of us are saints. But...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
you know, assuming we're all trying, you know, at least everybody in this room, but we're all trying to be good human beings and, and make this world a better place. And so as long as that is at your core, then it's through your own lens and how you can make that impact with your gifts, your skills, your personality, your talents. But Just rarely works out trying to clone, you know, someone else.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Serving others.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
See, you know, you do. You know, someone told me, I forget, we have so many wonderful guests now. I'm not going to give the attribution to the right place, but they'll know who they are. And is whenever you think... Like if you're having bad or you just can't get together, it's just bad week, bad day, bad month. Shit's going wrong in your life. Go serve others.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And you'll be amazed at how it centers you. I think it does a lot of different things. It might remind you that others might have it worse than you, or it gets you out of serving yourself. And sometimes to serve yourself, you've got to serve others because it feeds you more than you realize. And it took me a long time to learn this one. It's not because I've always been good to friends.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I was always generous. It was not like that. But there's a difference. And, you know, I have to remind myself of that sometimes because I am a provider and a driver. And so I think I serve others best because I do that. But there's a difference sometimes in providing versus serving.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Oh, good for you. That's great. Hey, feeds the soul, baby.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
What's next?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. See, that sounds good. I mean, that sounds good.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. I mentor probably, five or six other agency owners, you know, either sometimes in person, sometimes DMing, you know, just be freely giving a very little time I have, but making time, you know, like you can always make time. And I think that's the key is, I don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. And having, or a shitty like a hotel, a backroom lobby or whatever, wherever they have them now or to be, Oh my God, I lived in New York when all the people crammed and like in time square. Oh my God. I can't even imagine. Like I was there. And a million miles away from it, at least it felt like it, down on the other end of Manhattan.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And like, you know, even to this day, I go on every podcast I get asked to go on, whether they have five listeners or 5,000 million, whatever it is, you know, I don't even look at the data. It's just, I'll make it happen. And I think, I don't know. You can always, I don't consider myself Mr. Kindness, but like I tried to be kind, you know, and not like, I don't know, even in my own way.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And I think that's, but I say it out loud because I like to remind myself, like I need to, you know, we all need to talk about these things because then you remind yourself and like, Because what's not talked about is not really ever manifested, I feel like. Just because you think something doesn't make it happen. So, anyway.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Oh, I love this one. I mean, I just... I me personally, I just have I don't have a lot of empathy for complainers and I. It might be easy to say what's easy for you to be that way. Look, you and I should go walk around Easley, South Carolina, the track home that I grew up in. I'm going to go walk you through the neighborhood. No, I didn't want for every meal.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
But let me just tell you, I got a book. I could have the encyclopedia of complaints if I wanted to. But you don't get to the other side complaining. You get to the other side with action. And so we can all play that game. it's kind of the whole victim game, all that stuff. It's just, it gets you nowhere. It's negative energy. It ruins and rots souls.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And so this is like, it's not so much from the place of hoots for male energy, you know, like all that. No, it's from the place of it's rotting your soul. If you sit there and complain and you're negative all the time and I'm feel bad for you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. I mean, I'll say this. There's one place that I have not removed complaining and bitching and negativity. I can admit this. Watching Clemson football, I am the most negative person because it's like I'm trying to – I believe that if I'm really nasty to them, they will turn around and be good like I'm coaching them.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And you wouldn't see me within a thousand feet of that place.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And even though they cannot hear me, I feel like my energy and how – and I am a really negative person when I watch Clemson football. It's the only thing I think in my life that I'm still even negative about. Like even after the game, I'm not negative about it. I'm over it. But during the game – I am exactly the human being that I hate because I'm like, God, we're fucking it up now. I don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
If I'm going to have one resolution, it's to be... And look, I love all the guys. It's not to any one player or anything. It's more like... I don't know, the facade that I'm somehow mentally willing them to victory by giving them tough love during the game. This year has been tough because they've been good.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I mean, they're in the playoffs, but there's been enough questionable moments for me to get the negative meter going. I feel bad about it sometimes. But I've willed them to the playoffs. Anyway, there you go. Don't complain.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah, this is a big one. It's like we all think the grass is greener. And, you know, it's like. it's not always green and you're going to have trials, tribulations and struggles to wherever you go. And so I just have a firm believer that you can be, there's always mitigating factors. I'm not saying that there's never an instance where that's not the case, but,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Oh, God. The traffic. Crazy, bro. I can't. It gives me anxiety when I see that. Yeah. Exactly. Just to see that ball drop.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
But I would venture to say that upwards of 75% of the time when people, the fight or flight, you know, if they had bloomed where they were planted, they could have bloomed where they were planted and maybe gone even further. but it's easier to quit or to bail on something.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And it's going to be, and then I think, cause I've experienced this a lot myself, you know, I bail on whatever I get somewhere. I'm like, well, this is worse than it was. You know, it's always life and business. And a lot of things are struggle.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Chris thoughts there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
No. Okay. Cause again, You know, like, it's always... Life is obstacles and challenges and all these things. That's what makes it great and fun. I mean, it gets... It was a quote this morning on like Instagram. The guy wrote that like, you know, show me a guy that's had no challenges and I'll show someone who's miserable and heartless.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Like it, it, it makes you like, and not because he's judging or teaching them. He just thinks that like, he was talking about like, you know, maybe like a trust fund kid or something, you know, that they're just completely soulless because they've never, had to build the character that comes from those challenges. And, you know, when everything's easy, nothing's meaningful.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. Or Ryan Seacrest, for that matter. Anywhere on that block is too close to him. I don't really dislike you, Ryan. Just a little. Since you have my name. Just kidding. Let alone for one, Ryan is right. Seacrest. Anyway, we'll leave it there on the parties. Sounds like we're all in the same boat. That's why we're going to bring you the real party.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Just do it, baby. Chris said it. He kind of blended it in a little bit. Like, there's never a perfect time. And it's like, we can plan and we can talk and we can do this. And it matters. You need to have a plan. You need to have a strategy. But at the end of the day, action is strategy sometimes. A lot of times. Because you're moving the needle. You're making progress.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Especially once you've lost on, like, you got the broad picture of what you're trying to do. then it's all about the steps to get there, you know, and you'll learn more from taking the steps than you will planning the abstract. That's the thing. My kids, this is watch a perfect example. My four boys, They're intelligent.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Special edition alert. What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. Two days after Christmas. It's Friday, December 27th for you. We're recording this a little bit earlier from our studios in Greenville and Miami. Just happy to be here. Got Brianna in studio. What's up, Brianna?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
One or two of them maybe too much for their own good because they're planning the game longer than they play the game. They're going, no, but when this happens, this goes over here and this happens here. And that's like, hey guys, bedtime. Like all they did was bitch and talk about how they were going to plan to play that game. And nothing ever happened.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
They never got any joy of what might would have happened in the game if they had just played. Yeah. This is just the other night. But we think that, no, if we plan longer, it'll be better. Not always. And again, it doesn't mean you don't need a plan. It doesn't mean you don't need a strategy, but action.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And every, I'll say this, I follow and have mentors that are really successful and they're very different. But this one, they're 100% aligned on is action.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. Well, nimbleness is key. It's probably like the big giant whale companies struggle today a little bit. It's like they're slow with action. They're slow in grading the action. They're slow in changing and pivoting. It's why a lot of the bigger, you know, Goliaths get kind of eaten up when... someone comes along that's more nimble, more flexible, that can put things to play.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Because that's a lot of what I see with some of the bigger companies. It's like some of these trends have been happening with media and TV going away, but podcasting growing and audio being more important than what someone watches on a TV that they're not paying attention to. but they're slow to react.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And by the time they react, the media costs have already 10 X, like, you know, the brands that were slow to react on Facebook ads 15 years ago. And then by the time they were doing them, they were already pretty expensive and not as effective. So you gotta be nimble, but the only way you learn is through action. You don't learn in planning. You make a plan, but you're not learning anything.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Hey, you party when you make money and you make money. Hey, you make progress. Money is the outcome. Hey, we all need money. But like it's more the progress. This is about making progress in 2025, growing yourself, growing your company and growing your opportunities. So that's what we're here for. How do we want to kick this off, Brianna?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And this is figuratively for me. This is like put up or shut up. I mean, I see a lot of people talk it, but they don't walk it. So I almost did the Migos song. Walk it like you talk it. You know, if you know, you know. But that's it's kind of all encompassing for me. It's not just, oh, you got to invest in it. Like, it's not just literal money, but it's skin in the game. Like, get in or get out.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Like, literally. If you're going to talk about it, then fucking do it. Which leads really well to number one. But Chris, thoughts on walk it like you talk it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Talk is cheap, and so is false being fake. I'll just say that, rephrase that. Like, either be in it or be out. Get in or get out. And so figuratively, put your money where your mouth is.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I mean, it's just the biggest thing. Like, just line it up, man. And look, I'm talking to me too, baby. I'm looking right in the fucking mirror. So don't think. But when you say you're going to do something, do it. Don't say you're going to do it if you don't plan on doing it. I mean, it's as simple as that. There's a lot of people that talk about shit that don't do it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And I'm not saying like just because you're a coach or something that you absolutely have to. It might not be your season to do everything that you're preaching. So I'm not saying that necessarily. But what I am saying, though, is just if you say you're going to be a meeting, be in a meeting. If you say, and look, I'm fucking late to almost every meeting.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I've got it on my list to not be late every time. But I'm there. You don't have to worry about me showing up. It's just probably going to be six minutes late. That's not happening. I'm doing my best around that and lining up my schedule. So it's not about that. But I'm just saying, if you say you're going to do it, do it. Like in anything.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
If you say you're going to be at a meeting, you say you're going to, you know, get this stuff done. And even when you're telling it, look, the worst lie you can tell is to yourself.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Well, I know you had a couple of questions for Chris and I, and then we'll get into our top 10, not resolutions, but ways to kick 2025's ass.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
So I'm not even talking about like, well, what, you know, like employees to managers or like, I'm just talking about to you, even to yourself.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. And we never always get it right. But again, the point of these lists isn't because everybody's going to get it perfect, but you don't get better if you don't talk about these things, if you don't have influences that push you in these directions. And that's all we're trying to do here. Hey, give you something to think about. And, but this is a big one because again,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I almost think like this is, and when I say do what you say, when you tell yourself mentally, when you write it down, that's doing what you say you'll do. And if you aren't getting this one right more than you're wrong, then all the other ones don't really matter.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Chris, thoughts on this?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Hey, you're so aware about it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. And look, I can't say it enough. This is coming from a place of love and trials and tribulations and a group of people that are always working on themselves. So we don't have all the answers, but I do think we are and represent a varied group of people that can relate to different things that have been through different challenges in life and in business.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And at the end of the day, if we do nothing on this show, it's to provide value, to provide value, things that make your business or your life better, because then that is ultimately taking the box for us, at least for me. So that's the goal. Top 10 things. These aren't resolutions. That's how you can crush 2025. These are big ones. We hope you enjoyed this. A little different episode from us.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
As we close out here, any final words?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Hey, recharge. You got to recharge, baby.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
There you go. Hit it hard. Hey, we're always hitting it hard here, especially exponent. Brianna, this whole episode was powered by exponent. Brianna got through it with her exponent drink. Yes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And they're always powering us. We're going to be getting that refrigerator in here any day, I hope. The exponent fridge is in route so that, look, mid-episode, I might be grabbing one of those things going, hey, I need a recharge. I need some plant power. I need it now. It's going to be like, let me have a button. I'm going to have, instead of an easy button, it's going to be an exponent button.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Exponent now, when we have some, you know, like Sager's going to throw me one or something. You know, it's going to be like Stone Cold Steve Austin. I'm going to be like, chug that thing down just like it is. Yes. You got your adaptogens and everything.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
X marks the spot. All the stuff you want. None of the stuff you don't. We appreciate them. And hey, if you're out there, we appreciate you for making us number one. Go to RyanIsRight.com. You'll find links to all our sponsors, link to all this content, our social media. We do this for you. We appreciate you. For Brianna Hall, Chris Hansen, I'm Ryan Alford at Saw Your Eyes In Studio.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And be a tool. Keyword is brand. And brand is about leverage over time. It's it pays like I mean, Trish's cash checks this year from personal branding. But what he's done is he's setting up leverage and feeling leverage. That leverage be played out and paid off because I've done the same thing.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I mean, there's stuff here and I had a meeting with our team yesterday and I said, listen to the old man for a minute here. Like, I mean, I get on my soapbox, like I've been doing this for seven years focused, you know, between the podcast and the personal brand. And some of the quote unquote checks that we're cashing now are seven years in the making.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And so you're building brand. And look, you got to do it the right way. It's not just posting Lambos and, you know, like looking like a fool. It's about being purposeful and showing and giving people tips and motivation or whatever your thing is, whatever your specialization is, is sharing that brand.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Got Chris Hansen down in Miami. What's up, Chris? What's up, y'all? You know, we didn't want to just bring you news. We're going to bring you some motivation, I guess. Lack of a better word. Mindset and motivation here. Hey, we're a business show. Those are two crucial things in business. And we want to get your head right. for 2025.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
gift or knowledge or insight with the world and building, you know, an audience that cares about that. And that, you know, that then can be leveraged in different ways because you've curated someone that's interested in things. And then when you have businesses that might sell things in around, in and around that specific niche, you have audience built, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Because when you have audience built, that's the hardest part. You can leverage it a lot of different ways. And it's not always monetization. It might be because Chris gets DM'd by someone that listened to him or knows him.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And the next thing you know, like five levels down the line, he's cashing checks on a business deal or crypto deal or something that would have never happened if he wasn't out there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yep, it is. So I think that's a big one.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I mean, I'm going to start with the lessons learned. I mean, I posted about this today, ironically, the day we were recording it. And it's just, you know, when you get comfortable, that's a dangerous spot. And I got comfortable in business and things. And no one's going to run your business but you. And learning that you've got to be in it to win it with the company.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
And no matter who you hire or what you do, you've got to be in the center of it. And that's just reality. Well, also, I think... I don't want people to think that it's like hustle culture. Like you can't be comfortable. Like, Oh great. If Ryan's not comfortable, then who the hell is going to be comfortable? Well, I just mean settle it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
You start to settle for things you wouldn't normally settle for. You allow things that you wouldn't typically allow because you don't want to rock. When you get comfortable, you don't want to get uncomfortable. It's like, and it uncomfortable doesn't mean unhappy, right? There's a difference between comfort and happiness.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
It's just, you have to continue to challenge yourself to set goals, to move forward. Because if you're not growing, advancing, or learning, You can't stay in neutral. Life doesn't stay in neutral. And that's that's the thing, because the use it or lose it is is really like key here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
So we're going to talk a little bit about some things we've learned ourselves this year. Chris and I, and Brianna for that matter, we're all involved in a lot of different businesses and a lot of different things. So our perspective sort of is what comes out on this show all the time. But I think we wanted to share some insights Tips, tricks, things we've learned ourselves the hard way.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. And I think, you know, the gym to me is always the best comparison. It's if you go to the gym, you can get on that treadmill and look like you're doing it. But you are, but you aren't doing it because you're just comfortable. You're just on it. You're walking, you're getting your steps in and hey, it's good to walk every day.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
But you're not going to get a six pack and bulging biceps on the treadmill. So it takes some discomfort and putting yourself through some trials and tribulations to see the results.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yeah. And I had to be reminded that the joy is the journey, right? And it's not the process making money and how, or having things is not happiness. It's, it's the ability to seek out and create new ways with which to have those opportunities. It, it, it is like fundamentally back to the, People say the journey is everything. I'm saying that, but I'm saying the journey is everything.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
But no, it's the person that you become during the journey and during the trials that is everything. There's a difference. And when you don't put yourself in that position or you're just soaking in one spot, like you're on the beach. And if you laid out the entire time with never turning, your whole body doesn't get tanned. You know what I mean? And so, but you're comfortable. You're there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Hey, I'm getting some benefits here, but you got to move around. You've got to adapt. And so- Again, that was the biggest learning lesson. And then, you know, at the end of the day, I'm thankful I had a wife that had cancer this time last year and does it today. So blessed there. And got four healthy kids that are great. And I get to coach and I get to wake up every day.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
So, hey, I've got to be thankful for that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Perfect segue. My friend, one of the guys on our network, Matt Reynolds, Barbell Logic CEO, wrote a book just about that exact thing. Undoing urgency. Reclaim your time for the things that matter most. Hey, it's an Amazon bestseller right now. You need to go check it out. He's on our network. Build Your Business is his podcast. Barbell Logic is the company, but this is a great book.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
You'll even see yours truly. I think it's page two. I've got a review in here and I'm going to read you this review because I meant it because actually he sent me a pre-copy and it tells you, I think I did the best description of, hey, I'm a writer. Like he had his friend that's a writer write a review, but I do think it describes what the book's about.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Matt has written a masterclass in short-term versus long-term thinking that could become the modern playbook for entrepreneurs, busy fathers, and even marketing executives. The principles he outlines in Undoing Urgency feel familiar but entirely fresh as he weaves a tapestry of gripping personal experience with highly relatable scenarios that kept me page-turning.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Even if I could part on anything, please learn from me so you don't have to go through some of it. I've failed more than I can count, but hey, you keep coming back for more. It's all about the journey and growing through it. So pumped to be here. And I mean, before we get into it, you know, Chris, I mean, does anyone celebrate? I'm old. I'm old. You know, like New Year's, New Year's Day anymore.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
I was ultimately left in total reflection, primarily with the man staring back at me in the mirror. And it was because it makes you realize where you should be spending your time and that we create these senses of urgency around things that really don't matter. And it gets in the way of the things that do. So can't give this a high enough recommendation, unpaid, just because, but it's that good.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Yes. So are we ready for our top 10 ways to kick 2025's ass?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
All right.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
All right, so this is one of my favorite quotes. So you get it for number 10. It might should be number one, but we're going to call it what it is. So let me tell you what that means if you don't know what it means. It means if you expect something to happen, you've got to be a part of making it happen and reviewing and setting goals and having accountability to that. We all expect things.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
We all want goals to happen. We want this to happen, that to happen. And then sometimes we kind of sit back and go, Why didn't that happen? You have to inspect what you expect. You have to grade it, set, hey, what gets measured gets graded. And so this is something I always know. I always preach, but I don't always practice myself.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
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Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
The way billions just get thrown around now, it's like millions 15, 20 years ago. People use those words a lot. That's a lot of damn money. It's a lot of O's. Yep. I think they're going to end up having to sell this thing. I think I don't think Trump's going to allow them to just status quo.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
I mean, I think he's given 60 more days and then he's going to do what Trump does and he's going to follow through and be like, all right. You're not because I think by dance was holding out that maybe this would just go away. Let's be honest. They don't want to sell.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah, I think ByteDance just thought, oh, Biden's not going to do what he says he's going to do. And then Biden didn't really have to because it so conveniently, you know, happens right when Trump comes in. So Trump goes, all right, you're on my watch now. You got 60 days. So I think they'll end up selling or at least partnering or doing something.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
I don't think Trump's going to let it stay status quo. No, yeah. And not only they should. I mean... Nobody wants World War III and China and the U.S. at odds, but they are an adversary on some level. It just is what it is. And I'm not saying that the people are necessarily adversaries, but the governments definitely are. And the interests definitely don't align at all. So...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
We'll see where that goes. So all you TikTok lovers just, you know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah. Move over to the adult platform. I guess. I don't know. I just, it's more just I'm vested there. I'm on TikTok. I got the blue check. It's great. Thank you. Like, but it's like, you know, I just don't have time or the energy. You know, when the team gets a little, if I got one more person on the team, TikTok would probably be on the list of like more than what we do now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
But until then, you know, you guys can find us.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Bank of America says the banking industry will embrace crypto. Congratulations. Way to wise up, buddy. In the department of no shit. Yeah. You got the president, all his people. He's got a meme coin out, man. What are you going to do? Not support it? And I don't know. The banks, I posted, we talked about last week. I got a little side eye with the banks right now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
I got white, ebony and ivory. Yes. Yin yang. I know. Looking sharp, looking sharp. talking about the business, giving you the business.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yes, we did. And here we are.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah, they want to get those record profits like they've been getting. And hey, they're devising plans as we speak. in the how do we take it out of the customer's ass department is they're meeting right now. What's the acronym for that? H2ACA. How to, you know, take more money out of America's pockets. How many fees can we get on crypto?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
You know there's someone in the fees department concocting this right now. How many fees can we get on crypto and for what? Transaction fees. Late trade fee. A Bitcoin risk... Awareness fee. Yeah. I know what you're up to. You dirty banks.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah. But at a certain point for business, it's tough. Like to not have a U.S. bank. I'm not saying it's, I'm not saying you can't.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
But it's going to be interesting to see this. It will be interesting, but I'm just glad that many industries come along here. Always late to the game and early to the profits.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
They're too busy counting their money from fourth quarter. There's record profits. What else is on your mind this week? You know, we've got... It's just Disney. Like I'm saying, it's dizzy. Dizzying. Trump's enactment. Like, you got the AI task force. You see this thing? So, the big players on the stage coming out and... Basically, $500 billion, another B, commitment here for these data centers.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I think it's a bigger deal than it may be being made out to be. I agree. It doesn't sound sexy. It doesn't sound sexy. Yeah. But to have it on our soil, which is what ultimately Trump is up to here, needs to be on our soil, under our control, not relying on others. Because, Chris, we can't help the free world and others if we're relying on others to help the broader world.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
I don't know. We're still the business casual. That'd be a good name for a podcast.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
It's a mouthful, but I think you know what I'm saying. So this stuff needs to be on our turf and under our control. so that we can make sure it's used both for our interests and for our allies. So I get it. I mean, everybody wants to talk about the cost and I get that too. We'll see where that goes with overall costs and certain things and tariffs and all that.
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I hear you, but this is a big deal, especially with what's going on with AI and how important it's going to be, how it's going to dictate a lot of industry and things. So, Got $100 billion to start.
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Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah. Or lost a larger percentage than we should have. Stargate Project. This is a very large investment in the future. Investment that affects all of humanity. Trump touts joint venture between SoftBank OpenAI and Oracle worth $500 billion. The three tech CEOs have joined in President Donald Trump's multi-billion dollar artificial intelligent infrastructure project.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Here we are, the walking desk studio. But I hope everyone's doing great. We have Trump, who got inaugurated on Monday. It's affected all the news because there's so much business stuff. I'll tell you what, this guy's not messing around. More, I don't know, things enacted in four days than I think Biden got done in four years or at least, I don't know, four quarters.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Defended the venture as an investment that impacts all of humanity. President Trump unveiled a massive AI infrastructure project from the private sector on the first full day of his second term in office. Trump announced that SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle had joined, created Stargate to build data centers in the U.S. for powering AI.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
I mean, that's what all it says, computing power, large data centers, lots of power, energy, and heat. You ever been in a data center or walked in a place where, like, all the computers are on? Like, the back servers?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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How much fucking heat that shit puts out? It's crazy. You want to get close to the sun. That's close to it. You got fans going everywhere. There's data centers. What it takes to power these things? They think mining crypto takes a lot.
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Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
It's so funny, the modern mining system. You know, used to be down in the depths of a pit. Now we're in a sweaty, sweaty matrix. You know, the stories that come true, the predictions that end up real. I just don't want to get plugged into like a matrix. I want to like wake up and be in like a big vat of nasty jelly, Nickelodeon plasma, whatever that shit is.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
I don't, don't, I don't want my brain plugged into the data center. It's fascinating is, um, What's cooking the rest of the week? Weekend for you, Chris. Any big plans? I had a wedding this weekend.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Wedding crashers. What a great. You going to crash it? You've taken a date or anything?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Single Chris. Hey, anyone listening? Single Chris. Hey, date to the wedding. You know, got Miami, got a nice dog. America's most eligible bachelor. We'll start the Right About Now Bachelor Show starring Chris Hansen. That's why I got you dressed up today, Chris, you know?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah. Bachelor Chris. We had Crypto Chris last week. Now it's Bachelor Chris. Yeah. Oh. Stay single while you can. Enjoy it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Nah. She doesn't listen. Nah. Look, great marriage is great. Bad marriage is bad.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah. Right. You're right in the middle.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Exactly. Well, we don't know what's going to be up. What Trump? One more week. We might have 27 things to talk about with one more week. When Trump really rolls the sleeves up. We have a busy couple of segments. Exactly. That's why we're rolling the sleeves up. We're taking the BS out of business. Unified us. Ryanisright.com. Find highlight clips. All our sponsors, including Exponent.
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Hey, best co-working lounge, bar, hangout, right on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in the beautiful downtown Greenville. Come see it. Give me a shout-out. I'm here. We got the studio. Come see us live. We appreciate you for making us number one. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
So just flying around, flying around. Can't keep up with the headlines. It's like AI this, crypto that. We got the Trump coin.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
I know. This is what it's supposed to look like. This is what peace on earth feels like. Yeah, peace on earth and activity. And hey, in the American way, forward. Unity, forward. Gearing people together, getting tech together. And all the windows pan. Oh, is the rich getting richer? No. No. But you need all these people to make shit happen. They make opportunities and jobs happen and all that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
It does trickle down, folks. Not saying that's the only way. I'm not always saying it's top-down. But I'm saying top-down does work when you need to get activity moving. And you need all the politics and bullshit out of the way. So, so far, I like what I'm seeing. You don't have to like everything. But lots of good stuff. You know, I will say... It is a fine line with the Trump coin.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It is Friday, January 24th, 2025. It's our weekly business news of the week. Brian and Chris coming to you from Miami and Greenville, South Carolina. What's up, Chris?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
He's in office. Look, I love him for it and also raise my eyebrow to him for the same thing. He's in the public eye. He gets free press every day as a person, removing the presidency from it that you and I and no one else gets because he's the president of the United States and he was voted in.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
You know, launching a business venture, the Trump coin, I don't know all the financials behind it, but I would assume it just goes, I think he owns 80% of it, him and Melania. It does go, that's convenient, right?
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Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
But does it give you heartburn at all that he launches it? It's so beneficial to his personal bottom line. He launches it the day before he's inaugurated.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah. Look, if I'm going to wear the sleeve of kind of taking the bullshit out and talking all sides a little bit, even if my personal beliefs tend to slant one, I can understand a lot of raised eye a little. I just think... I do think it does open opportunity up for people to get into Bitcoin because you can ride the wave of whatever his coin does, too.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And so he may own it and it is benefiting him directly, but it is sort of serving the purpose of policy. It's a fine line. It is. And I wouldn't, you know, if someone came in to do a debate, I don't know how long I could fight them off on their side of having issue with this on some level. But I can also personally see the upside, you know, more universally like you.
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I could see him saying, okay, now, but I mean, but if, you know, let's go down that road. Like I hear what you're saying, but like four, okay. He comes out four years, his family, let's just say it holds the value. It says on paper now it's like $50 billion. Like we all know that'll probably go down or whatever, but when he comes out of office, like,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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his and his family never comes you know serves office again and donald trump jr and his sons and his sons and his sons have legacy financial support from that coin launching because he was president and the popularity that it had that i think that's where the heartburn comes in for people right yeah but i would i would challenge people i mean the man's been a billionaire prior like
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I think we can all just admit that he gets some leeways that very few before him ever have because of that fact. And I'll say this. And I'm going to just, you know, we're opinion.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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So whatever we've been doing with the types of people that are non-business people that are political creatures their entire lives and have no business experience, would you rather there be a touch of reality and a businessman, you know, maybe using that influence to help others and himself, uh,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Or would you rather keep doing what we do, putting in lifelong politicians that make nothing happen, that talk in circles, that never align people in business and in government? So which one would you rather have? And no transparency.
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Yeah, most of it's happening behind the dark. Joe Biden is probably a billionaire himself or a hundred millionaire himself. And I don't know. I don't have facts, but I'm just saying I'm not stupid and I'm cynical. And but, you know, but everything else that was claimed about his son and everything else has come out to be true. So let's just go down that road.
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Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah, we did. It snowed. Like, they called for all the snow last week, and then we got like a nice half an inch late yesterday afternoon. It just got kind of out of nowhere.
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It is an interesting thing. He's enacted his ability to leverage his name, image, and likeness while in president. It's like the equivalent of a college athlete in school that now gets to take advantage. They're seemingly paid with scholarship to go to school, but we all know they're making billions of dollars on their backs.
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Now they can take advantage of their name, image, and likeness while they're playing football.
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Oh, he's a great one. I mean, one of the best marketers of all time.
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I mean, MAGA, you know, take away all the freaking, you know, tyranny bullshit and, like, all the, you know, white supremacy garbage of MAGA. Right. Like, think of how much... What impact has MAGA had on the economy just on merchandise? Yeah. How many Etsy sellers would be underwater right now if MAGA hadn't launched?
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Yeah. I don't think he's chasing down people selling MAGA stuff. He also understands brand. That's what, you know, letting it spread.
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Yeah, exactly. So meme coins are out. Ethics concerns, very dangerous.
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Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Is what?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
How's it doing, the coin itself?
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Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Is that a record?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
That's right. And you say almost all business now is speculation, you know, like speculative. Yeah. Pays be known.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Global warming.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Big Business: Trump off to Blazing Start - Trump Coin - AI Investments - Crypto Mainstream
Yeah. Trump's official quote, my new official Trump meme is here. It's time to celebrate everything we stand for winning. Oh, it reminds me a little bit of Charlie. Was it Charlie Sheen? Winning. Isn't that his thing? I don't know if he won or not. Where is that guy? He stopped. He must've stopped drinking.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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And somebody's going to DM me. Oh, that's not how it works. The fact that it's actually getting colder where it's not supposed to is a sign of global warming. I know. Whatever.
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Cause he just isn't out there anymore. That is health bad. I'll be doing well. I do too. Kind of miss his antics. I know. So this is how the news works. This is why I probably moving to like three days a week with the business news, giving you the business.
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The TikTok kind of came and went, the ban, since we last... We would have reported that TikTok is down, but we're now able to report it back up. That's how the news cycles work.
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Yeah. It's almost like why I'm scared to talk about a headline because the news cycle is so fast. got to talk deeper than one article because the shit's happened. Like, Oh, okay. TikTok is down. Oh my God, Chris, what do you think about that? Well, now it's back up.
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Yeah.
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And I still, what's funny is the Instagram algorithm. we'll send you stuff that they think you're interested in. Even if it's like a week or five days, you know, like it sends you old and new stuff. I'm getting the, you know, all the guys that respond to everything where they play a video or the news behind them.
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I'm still getting the ones where, you know, they're talking about how TikTok's gone down. And like, I'm like, well, this is, this didn't age well. No, it was quick. And now back up.
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Oh, yeah. I can't have that CapCut down.
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Yeah. Chinese owning all the stuff, getting all your data, Chris, all your, you know, you're cutting all those videos together. What kind of videos are you cutting? Damn. They got that evidence on you.
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Whatever it is, it was cold here in South Carolina. Still cold, man. You know, I'm starting to long for that spring and summer. But, you know, I will say this. Chris and I are stepping it up today. You know, we're usually fairly casual. I said, Chris, let's let's show what we're about today. You know, I got a little more a button down. I don't think on the show, maybe ever. Chris is rocking black.
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Yeah. They got to you. But, uh, yeah, Trump re and I gave him like a 60 day. There's talk about it getting bought. I saw, uh, You know, several people making plays and saw Kevin O'Leary, one of the guys, making a play.
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Yep. Perplexity. Have you played with the perplexity on your app, like the browser? No. It's a, you know, I've tried to use it. It's interesting, but it's not taking it over Google for me yet. But supposedly they were suggesting a merge. They've got a lot of backing. Yeah. Bezos, a lot of other big guys. Kevin O'Leary reportedly offered $20 billion in cash for TikTok.
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Yeah, 100% foolish.
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Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it's just like we said last year, somebody needs to be unhappy at somebody and they need a reason to protest. And, and then you always have this sort of extremist group. And I'll admit maybe on both sides, like waiting in the background to be activated. Right. All right. What do we need? All right. We need some, we got to attack all these Teslas. All right.
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Get them going. Get the guys going. Right. Get the money in, start circling the wagons.
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Yeah. Yeah. And they use news and this stuff to sort of move sentiment overall. Uh, the, uh, I will say this, Chris, you know, the good thing that, I mean, I like to transition, you know, sort of nagging, nagging news, like the positive news, which is, Hey, I am getting to get every word today recorded in real time. and transcoded. I'm getting the notes automatic because of my good friends.
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If I am rec dot, look, I got the headphone piece in Chris, literally real time happening here on my phone. That's our notes. That's our word spoken. It's getting the show notes right as we speak, transcoding it, summarizing it right there on my phone. It's immediate. It's, it's incredibly accurate. I've been testing it this week. So literally go into meetings, you can have both headphones on.
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I can be, and I'll tell people, Hey, we're recording. I'm recording this. So to get shown, to get my notes for later, to take bullet points, it summarizes everything. You can run it through a GPT or anything, taking those notes to get what you need from it. But it's that real time action that's happening while you're sitting there. And so if you go to check out Viame Rec.
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But hey, we are talking business, so we're going to bring it to you. Chris, are you going to fill out a bracket? Are you going to fill out a bracket?
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on their website, you can record calls, any audios and meetings. It's got, I'll say this, Chris, I couldn't believe I was working out this morning. So I wanted to try it to get the full experience here. Listening to the music. I mean, I got to be honest. There was a couple of songs that sounded better than my AirPods.
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So I was expecting, okay, it's got this voice recording and all that, all the good stuff for business. You know, the sound quality is probably just going to be so-so. No. Great sound quality, seamless video and audio transcription. We can record on-site or otherwise. Go check them out. Just do a search. We'll have them in the show notes. If I aim RECDOT, it will change the game for business.
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It's already doing it for me. Yes, Chris. So in good news, NASA finally got these guys out of space. Nine months. It's supposed to be like a two-day or one-week thing. Imagine that, Chris. You go up into space. You think it's going to be two days or a week, and you get stuck for nine months. I would freak out, man.
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So we're going to bomb Tesla cars and SpaceX, founded and owned or CEO of Elon Musk. He's rescuing astronauts from NASA because NASA can no longer put their own rockets together. They can hold it, I guess. And so now doing this commercial space exploration, but goes up there and saves them. Splash landing, gets them back. But yeah, we're going to go bomb their cars. That makes sense.
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It's like, but still. NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams returned to Earth after spending over nine months stranded in space. This is going to be a movie, right? It's got to be. Their planned one-week mission in June of 2024 on Boeing's Starliner capsule turned into a prolonged stay due to spacecraft issues. SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the relief crew enabled their return.
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Landing in the Gulf of America off Tallahassee. It says Gulf of America. Have we officially changed the name?
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Not the Gulf of Mexico anymore. I saw that happening. I didn't know if we were officially moved to there. The article, all right, no longer the Gulf of Mexico. It's the Gulf of America.
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The SpaceX Mission Control in California, welcome them back. On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home. Hey, what a ride, the astronaut said, grinning ear to ear. SpaceX has now completed 10 operational human space flight missions under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
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The Dragon capsule went through orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettisoning its trunk and re-entering Earth's atmosphere for a smooth splashdown. I've always wanted to use that combination of words. That was very well written.
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Oh, gosh, Chris, man. Cue the womp, womp, womp music.
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Yeah. Orbit lowering. If you'd have told me at any time in my life, I would use orbit lowering and jettisoning its trunk. Smooth splashdown. All in this one sentence. I would not believe you.
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Yes, exactly. But again, they're home safe and it's good news. We appreciate SpaceX for getting them back after that one week. I mean, nine months. I mean, yeah. Space exhibition. I mean... Think about what's the first thing they want to eat. Don't tell me. They've got the space food up there. They've had all the dry eggs. They must have been at least getting them food, obviously.
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One week and nine months, they were either rationing really good or I think they were sending them supplies. It's like, can we please get that steak sandwich? How long does it take to get there? I need a grilled steak or hamburger or something. Not that dried, you know, what is it? Eggs in a box.
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Dehydrated. Dehydrated. It's so funny. My dad, Steve offered, I love him, but he's got like these prep kits and my dad's not, he's kind of that guy, but not really that guy. He's got all the kids just in case things go wrong. And I helped him move a couple weekends ago. And we're moving. And in his pod, moving the pod, I'm moving this pod, he's got like 50 of these containers.
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Yeah, that shows you're an entrepreneur. You haven't been in corporate America where everybody does the bracket fill-outs.
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They're probably like 25 pounds each and like a foot, you know, two feet tall, one feet wide. I got some of those. And I'm moving them. And one of them is significantly lighter than the others. Yeah. His buddy Bob, who's – my dad's 73, is over there. They're both kind of like sort of pretending to move. I'm actually doing all the moving. Look, I'm a young buck. I can do it.
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But they go – he goes, oh, yeah, that was probably pretty light. He's like, Bob and I got into that. We decided to cook dinner to see what we would be in for if we ever needed to use it. We wanted to know. He said, it's pretty good. You ought to take one home. It was what, eggs? Yeah. It was... Oh, no, I'm losing my YouTube button. It was everything...
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that you would imagine dried up like in packets.
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It has like roast beef even. It said roast beef.
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Yeah, brother.
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But I just got to kick out, you know, thinking about those poor astronauts, what they're eating up there and dried stuff. Maybe, yeah, I'm sure it's come a long way. They're probably getting better things than we're even eating. But I just thought of my dad, like, and his buddy deciding they were going to have dried food one night. You know, they do drink tequila on Tuesday nights.
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They must have been a tequila Tuesday.
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Yeah. Ferrari car buyers are getting younger. CEO says 40% of new clients are now under 40. You've been a Ferrari buyer yourself though, Chris. Yeah. You were under 40. I definitely was.
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Their CEO credited the shift to the company's team efforts. The brand maintains exclusivity with nearly 75% of sales going to existing customers. I mean, which sort of makes sense. You know, a lot of rich people that own them, buy another one, get in line.
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Yep. Ferrari maintains strict production, ensuring demand always exceeds supply. Enzo Ferrari's philosophy, we always deliver one less car than the market demands. Smart. I mean, it's smart. And I mean, I just didn't have their financials, but I assume they're making money. But I get it. Hey, that's the brand. It's luxury. But you're always sort of capped on some level. But you know what?
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Elon Hint Musk, there's an article that says, he says, Grok AI could beat Warren Buffett's March Madness Bracket Challenge because Warren Buffett does, look, no one has ever in the history of the tournament picked a perfect bracket. Never happened. all the games. It's crazy. I would think that that would have just accidentally happened just by chance, but it just shows you how.
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I mean, that's not a bad thing. It's like, you know, if you're always profitable... And you'd rather make steady income than chasing. Because then you buy the roads. Yeah. Quality goes down.
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Yeah.
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Do you think, um, Ferrari's looked at as a better car?
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Yeah.
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Jason, are you a Ferrari or Lamborghini guy? You like Ferraris? We have a special guest in the studio today. And Jason, we're not recording live. So you can, are you, do you like Ferraris? Yeah. I think you take one, right? If Chris wanted to buy you one. Yeah. I liked your Ferrari. Good ride. I'll let you keep getting them. I like to live vicariously through you.
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You can come stay on my houseboat. You let me drive your Ferrari. That's fair trade. And, you know, I knew we'd get to tariffs at some point. Yeah, I can't avoid it because it's still there. The elephant in the room. Splurge or save? Americans struggle as tariffs hit economy. I think it's maybe the first part of that I would agree with.
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I don't know if the tariffs have definitively hit the economy. I think the perception, the sentiment has hit. rising uncertainty. Households are saving more and spending less amid concerns over tariffs and a possible economic shutdown. Retail sales declined last month and companies like Walmart and Delta are reporting weakened demand.
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The Fed is set to hold interest rates steady, but the path forward is uncertain as tariffs could raise prices and slow growth. I mean, we talked about this last week and it holds true for me. I think the administration needs to paint the picture of where we're headed with the tariff stuff. The tariff wars are not good for us. And I do, I don't look, we share articles and opinion on articles here.
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Um, you know, we can't go fact check every single thing I go, we go kind of by our own opinion and sentiment of what we feel in our circles. And I think that this feels accurate to what I see and sense. Um, as far as the overall sentiment. That's why I think the interest rates got to go down. It's like lower the rates.
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We got to get people refinancing, get some more money, get the sentiment higher. And this is where I think the administration really needs to paint the picture of, okay, what next?
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Yeah. The people that have it are keeping it in savings, pushing it into gold or whatever. Yeah. I mean. Yeah. So, I mean, as it relates to this, Chris, what are we seeing on the crypto front?
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Yeah, I guess. It's been, you know, maybe someone.
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Some guy in one of the frat houses, you know. He has that story. There's a frat house somewhere in the southeast part of this country that has got a bracket right. Yeah, exactly. But here's what he said. This is kind of a fun one where Warren Buffett has a billion-dollar bet that if you exactly match the entire winning – tree of March madness, you can win a billion dollars.
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XRP is up 12% today. We record on Wednesday. So there you go. But it's a, it coins up 3% today. We're having a little pump today, but down, but I'm down 700 on the month. 700%? No, $700 in this one account. I got multiple accounts with crypto. This one account where I keep the XRP is down 700. As a percentage, it's not really that much. It's like 3% or something.
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I think XRP is going to go to $5.
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Yeah.
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Exactly. I mean, where do you think we're headed with all the decentralization overall? I mean, that's a great question. Would I want to go or are we going to go?
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Yes.
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Yeah. Yeah. Because the so-called transparency that happens now only helps one person. Right. Or one side, the banks or the realtors or, you know, title company. I mean, like the system. Right. Right.
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And look, this is what they fall on. And there's probably some truth. When it's as easy and it's sort of...
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unregulated to a degree the concern is you know fraud or hey if if your grandmother could transfer something in two seconds without the checks and balances and no recourse is that the right thing i think that's where the that's where the sort of old guard stands however i got scammed two years ago the bank didn't refund me yeah you know like they don't
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What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's our weekly business news here on Friday, March 21st, 2025. What's up, Chris Hansen?
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I'm posting a lot about that. I'm actually getting back on the old X. I guess it's hard not to say Twitter, Chris. I don't even know. But Digital Innovation for America, I'm partnering with them. The Voice for Americans Who Seek to Harness the Promise of Blockchain and Digital Assets for a More Empowered Future. I am reposting a lot of their articles. Go check them out. It's interesting.
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Warren Buffett awards that. So Musk said in a reference to the NCAA basketball tournament bracket. So AI to figure out your pool. This did give me, I think I might reference AI in filling mine out this year. So I need to, you know, we record this earlier than Friday. So by the time you're listening to this, your bracket might already be busted because you,
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It's education. At the end of the day, Chris, Chris and I do a couple of shows together. We do this and Vibe Science... We're trying to educate. We've got opinions. You can like, love, hate, dismiss our opinion. But we're trying to educate and bring all sides here. You know, we take the BS out of business and like we call it like we see it. And regulation and having someone's hand in.
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and supposed protection on every transaction you do. And every, it's just, it's about as un-American as it gets. Yeah.
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No, they're not protecting you. They want your money. Digital Innovation for America. Check them out. DIFA. D-I-F-A. USA on X. But interesting articles. A lot of insight. I mean, I've kind of, you and I have been in this camp and we talk about crypto and we do this, but I don't, I want to make sure we're doing a good job explaining why we talk about it and why we think there's power in it.
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And yeah, it's about the speculation of stock slash, you know, crypto coins and memes and all that sort of stuff. But at the end of the day, it's really about counter currency and other ways to get people out of these transactions and the time and the money involved. That's the shit that's just got me fired up. I just, cause I do transfer.
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Like if something, I've got to pay somebody and it's just anything remotely like where they're trying not to get deal with the bank or something. It's just a pain in the rear, you know? Yeah. Anyway, I think that's all we've got today, Chris, other than, you know, our normal. My good friends at Panini, they're going to start sending me some cards because, I mean, the sports cards business.
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That's where, hey, the index on sports cards trading, Jason, you wouldn't believe how popular they are. And our audience is getting to learn firsthand. I should have brought my March Madness cards, but I didn't. All I've got today is the football cards. So I'm going to be opening our football card pack here. Hey, this is a hanger box. So here's some good insight, guys.
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I opened one of these boxes on the show. I think it was the first one that I actually opened. And it was that pack that I was like, dude, there's like $300 for the cards in here. I sold the most valuable card that was in the box for $150 on eBay this week. So that's real money. So real money, Chris. $150 for a card on this show. You can get down with that, right?
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Yeah, and we're doing, I'm paying them by the hour while they're training, learning. That's why you got to go, hey, look, we got to pay for the college fund here. So go check it out at BreakingRad.com. Breaking Rad. You like that play on words, Chris, don't you? You're good at that. I'm a good words. Here we go. Holding it down. This is the hanger box from Prism Football. It's a big retail.
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It's one of the most popular retail packages and cards. You've got the pink prisms and whatever. You can see the color coming outside, Chris. Already feeling the excitement. Up, up. Okay. These are your base cards. Old Debo, who just got traded. Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins, Eric Dickerson. Hey, Travis Etienne, Clemson player. My boys love him. Always pull out the Clemson guys.
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We'll already have been through all the games on Thursday and probably getting into, you know, hopefully you're listening on the treadmill at 5 a.m. right when this release. We know we've got our loyal listeners to do that. But if you're not, then hopefully your brackets are already busted when you're hearing all this news. It can happen quick.
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Justin Jefferson, one of the best. Andy Reid. Okay, this would be the – there's always these cards that you think are one thing and they're not. You're hoping for a Brock Bowers who plays for the Raiders. This is the other receiver rookie that's not Brock Bowers. This would be what they call a fool. Like, you think that's what you are because you're sliding it.
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You see the rookie card and you see the Raiders. You're thinking it's Brock Bowers and it's not. But we still – we don't hate you, Dylan. These are those special pink cards. Anthony Richardson, he needs to get it together. Leslie Welker, Ray Davis, good running back, played at Kentucky. Marshawn Lloyd. Hey, Marvin Harrison Jr. That's a good card there.
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One of the best receivers to come out of the draft. Another rookie card. There you have it, Chris. Lots of excitement. You need to be watching the YouTube channel to see the players that we're getting from our Prism NFL team. Don't. That's the best card in the bag. Look at the hollow. Look at the foil. You know, like the shiny. Oh, yes. All right.
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I'm going to have to send these home with Jason today as another part of his birthday gift. We'll see. All right. Oh, Chris, any final words, my friend?
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Drink water. Yes. Get your brackets. Enjoy it. Add to that unproductive. Yeah, exactly. All those things. We appreciate everyone for listening. Check us out. Ryanisright.com. Find all the highlight clips, the full episodes linked to our sponsors. And where to find us on social media, Chris Burby Hanson on Instagram. I'm Ryan Alford. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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Yeah. Chatbot Grok three, which is powered by artificial intelligence on Monday night. Yeah. It got released. And during the event, that's when, uh, we can also do something more fun. How about make a prediction for March madness? So, uh, we're using AI for everything now. Uh, I, I will say this. We did this exact article.
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I started, you know, we're doing the research looking at what we're going to talk about today. This exact article, I feel like it's almost verbatim, Chris. We're going to go back and the team, you know, hopefully compare what it was. But the U.S. economy loses up to $20 billion to lost productivity over those four days from Thursday to Sunday. It's a lot of cash. 20 Bs.
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Millions of Americans gear up to watch college basketball this week for the 2025 edition of one of the biggest sporting events of the year. So I don't know. I think we joked about this last year, but do you just shut it down? If you've got one of those companies where, let's just say SKUs for sports fans. Yeah. Yeah, federal holidays, Thursday. Especially if you have a workforce that skews.
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I mean, I'm not being sexist, but it probably skews male. And I know everyone does brackets now. But if you have a workforce that you just know they're going to be They're heading this. Just say, all right, we're shutting down. Or you can take a vacation day. I bet you a lot. How many vacation days get taken tomorrow?
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Oh, you know, holding it down here in G Vegas, the lovely social house, our co-work space in downtown Greenville. Also the home of our studio. Come see us anytime. Socialhouse.club is the website. And it is where everything's happening. Hey, it's spring to sprung. You got the trail and the river right here, Chris. So excited to be in Greenville. We can't all be in Miami.
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It is fun. I mean, no other point do I care when Iona and Alabama State are playing. You know, it's like the drama of the one and done, you know, the losing, you go home. I think that's what, you know, it's excitement because you're like, oh, you can feel for the kids the energy and the passion to stick around. They want to get that extra trip in, you know, the next weekend.
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The 10 interesting stats here that I don't think anyone wants to miss. Top 10 March Madness stats and facts. These are mainly business things. Go to wallethub.com. You can look at this. Number 10. We'll start from the 10 and go backwards, Chris. There are 12 plus college basketball games are involved in a corruption case involving payments to players. Okay. We start at number 10.
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I guess that was related to a tournament in the past. Number nine, 64,000. Alamo Dome, that's the Alamo Dome stadium's capacity for the Final Four this year. It can be extended to 72,000. I don't know if you've been to how many basketball games you've been to. Get your binoculars out to try to see the court.
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I mean, basketball is like, I mean, a third of the size or half at best of a football field. And so you're trying to see the whole court and you're in a 64,000-person stadium? I don't know about that. No, thanks. I think I'd rather watch it on the TV, Chris.
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Yes, a lot of it. Number eight, zero, the amount of money the NCAA pays the players participating in the tournament. I think that's a little misleading. Zero on the books. Zero on the books for the tournament. But they're getting deals with their schools. It is a little interesting of how much money the NCAA does make on the tournament that none does go to the players.
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I mean, we know the players are getting paid now with name, image, and likeness and the deals with the colleges. So I don't have the sympathy that I would have five years ago. But... Still interesting. Yeah. I mean, how many billions of dollars are made on this tournament? $15 million, number seven. NCAA women's basketball funds 2025 distribution to D1 schools. First in NCAA histories.
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So $15 million. So that's what they got paid and what they're distributing to the women players is $15 million this year. So the schools are getting paid by the NCAA, and then the schools themselves are distributing what they determine, the salaries of the players. Number six, $251.6 million.
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The estimated value of the University of Ohio basketball program, highest among all schools, generating a revenue of $24 million. Is that Ohio State? It's got to be, right? University of Ohio.
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There's an Ohio University. This has got to mean they needed to get their vernacular right on this. Because immediately I'm thinking. That's Ohio State. We're going to go out on a limb and just say that's got to be Ohio State. Got to be the Buckeyes. Yeah. It's interesting, though. That's a lot of money. The Buckeyes aren't even normally a top 10 team in basketball.
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Yeah, they do. Hey, they got the alumni. They got a big alumni base. All right, number five. 400 million projected economic impact on San Antonio from March Madness 2025. Just the city hosting the Final Four. Dude. A lot of bread. I mean, that's an impact. 400 million. That filled this room with cash, buddy. Got a big studio here that we can fill this entire thing with cash from what that impact.
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17 billion is the corporate losses due to unproductive workers. Okay, this one has the same. So the other one was estimated 20 billion. Ah, what's 3 billion? We're somewhere in that 17 to 20 billion range of unproductive workers lost. Just shut it down, people. Number three, 52X, the difference between the average NBA's rookie salary and a D1 men's athletes basketball scholarship for a year.
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Again, these stats made a lot of sense before the players got paid, but now that they're getting paid, we need to layer that in. Number two, 9.6 million, the salary for college basketball's highest paid coach, Kansas' Bill Self. Hmm. $9.6 million. That's not a bad little salary there. I take $9.6 million a year. Let's get these sponsors in, man. Come on.
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I got to feed some kids and keep my boat with some gas in it. Let's go. Number one. $1.3 billion is the annual estimated revenue for the NCAA last year. That's how much money they made. Hmm. It's big business, man. That's the bottom line here. You know, we're a business show. We talk business. Sports and college sports is big business. Lots of money being transacted. A lot of money and nostalgia.
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Yes, there we go. We appreciate you for listening wherever you are, whenever you're listening. Hey, it's March Madness, baby. We've got to get mad today. I was like, first I was like, okay, what are we going to talk about today? And sometimes, you know, I think macro and micro, and I'm like, okay, wait a second. It's freaking March Madness week. It's about to get crazy.
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Yeah, a lot of money and nostalgia. Look, man, we talked about sports cars. We're going to open pack in a little while. I said earlier it should have been basketball. It's football. But... Still, those are your top 10 March Madness stats and facts as it relates to business. And look, the bottom line is we've nailed that the unproductivity impact is high.
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So hopefully, you know, businesses know what's happening. They plan accordingly. And hopefully your bracket's not already busted. We'll see how that goes. Yeah. You know, this this article is not to turn to sort of a immediate, you know, kind of a fun thing to a negative thing, Chris. But have you seen all these people like bashing, like throwing Molotov cocktails at freaking Tesla cars?
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It's crazy. And I'm going to let you speak to what you said. I don't think it's his conspiracy theory as it kind of sort of sounds. It feels like instigation.
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It does feel like it's just another way, like instigation from the other side. You know, side like they don't like what Elon's doing with the Doge and trying to save money. And like what? I mean.
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Yeah. But what has happened so bad yet that makes someone want to take this kind of action? Like that's not just pure speculation or. I don't know, waving the fan of trying to spark fires, like trying to get oxygen to a fire that may or may not even exist with things he might be enacting and trying to save the government. I mean, the guy's trying to help save the government money.
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We've got to bring the energy and talk about the economic impact of March Madness. Some stats that you won't believe. Maybe a little lack of productivity that goes on with the game watching. We're going to talk some craziness that's happening with Elon Musk and Tesla cars and specific crazy world we live in. And I'm sure if we avoid tariff talk at all, it'll be a miracle.
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I don't even know that he's getting paid.
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He said most of this is due leftists hitting out at Musk for his efforts to slash government spending.
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Yeah. The website literally put out names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails of all Tesla owners they had pulled.
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It even lists FBI director Kash Patel's home and uses a symbol of a Molotov cocktail as its cursor. I mean, isn't this domestic terrorism?
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This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
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So I like this quote right here. This is very important for people to understand. A country is no different from an individual. And then if an individual overspends, an individual can go bankrupt. And so can a country. And the massive waste, fraud, and abuse that has been going on and leading to $2 trillion a year in a deficit. That's it, right?
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We need to balance the budget as the first priority. Agreed. We've talked about this a lot. If we ran our companies the way the government runs, you know. And the only way they get away with it is because then they can just say, well, they're protecting the people. It's different, you know. But it's not different. So we'll see how it gets there. Nonetheless, it's fun. I thought this was fun.
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So the Golden State Warriors have launched a record label. The Gold State Warriors are making ways beyond the court by launching their own record label. This move reflects the growing synergy between sports and the music industry, allowing athletes and franchises to tap into the culture influence of hip hop and other genres. Kind of cool. I, you know, I see the crossover, right?
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Exactly right. Expect to see exclusive tracks, collaboration with big-name artists, and crossover content that deepens fan engagement. It's interesting.
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It strikes me as the right marriage.
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For sure. Especially if you were... When you think about warming up, I played basketball all my life. You're warming up. You got...
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Pumping up. You got music playing. It's part of the experience of the games.
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It's interesting, though, how the Golden State, you know, not that they can't get over this, but it's one team. So you got those players. I'm sure they'll integrate, but like if LeBron James plays for the Lakers. And he wants to, you know, if they've got a record label that they start and they've got a rapper working with LeBron James, do you get in those conflicts?
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You would think they're going to separate church and state between the team and individual players and stuff. Otherwise, it becomes limited. Because what, is it just going to be Steph Curry? Yeah, because Golden Steph.
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Yeah, there is money. I had not seen the vending machines, but nothing surprises me anymore. How's the week been, brother?
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It's going to be another Tupac and Biggie.
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The record label's clashing. On the court, off the court, in the bars. This is good marketing. Behind the scenes. Yeah. It makes sense, though.
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Nostalgia is proving to be a major driver in fashion trends as retro football jerseys take over fashion. Hey, what's old is new again. And this is a new trend, but an old trend. Right. This is coming around.
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Like every 20 years, this becomes a thing. You're rocking it. Because there's new vintage every 20 years. I got to find my old Larry Bird jersey. I don't know where that thing is. I think it got sold in the garage sale, but that thing would be right.
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Once confined to game days, these vintage pieces are now becoming staple streetwear. Worn by celebrities, influencers, and everyday fashion forward consumers. High-end brands and sportswear giants alike are capitalizing on the trend by reissuing classic jerseys.
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Do you feel like you can rock an NBA jersey, though, and not look... Going to a game, but, like, walking around?
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Yeah, I can't, I can't pull that off.
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I just wouldn't rock it.
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You know, like.
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And even like NFL jersey, maybe, maybe, but not the. You could get it. You could. Yeah, NFL.
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But going to a game or going to a party, I just don't know about rocking it. Like. Like right now. It'd be a little funky. It was a sports show maybe, but I don't still know. Pull that off. I don't know if I want to pull it off, but I like them. I see other people and I'm like.
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Yes. That was interesting. I hadn't done that in a while. It wasn't my first time, but 37 degrees. I was impressed with you.
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Yeah, I'm actually Larry Bird. Yeah, exactly.
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Yeah. I love it. The XRP news. Bitwise XRP ETF clears first hurdle towards 8 billion jackpot. Bitwise has cleared a huge hurdle towards launching a spot XRP exchange traded fund. Part of a bigger, big $8 billion inflows, the Security Exchange Commission has acknowledged the asset manager's application to launch, making it the third applicant to pass this important milestone.
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The likelihood of an XRP ETF approval is high. Would that set an XRP itself up? Yeah, absolutely.
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What's going on with the market in general?
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Yeah.
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A beginner type?
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Yeah, man. He's got a... I'm mentally strong, you know? He's got to shut it down. Yeah.
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I don't know. Anyway, listening out there, it's been in the cold plunge. You know, sauna and cold plunge is all the rage. Yeah. It's good for you. Chris and I ventured in. We've got another show called Vibe Science. Go check that out. We talk about all the latest in health and wellness. Yeah. Hey, we practice what we preach, brother.
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I just need my...
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Yeah, I know. It's up 5% today, or $2.67.
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Went up a cent while we were talking. So, I don't know. Hey, it's in the green. It's in the green. Last six months, it's up 372%.
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Yep. See, I bought it about right here.
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Yeah, exactly. But you can go buy XRP and watch it go up.
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Yeah, exactly. We've been talking about sports cards, sports cards trading. The sports card market size is worth $20.48 billion. It will be by 2030. It's only five years. Yeah, I know. Exactly. I mean, dude, there's some real damn money in this shit. Those vending machines, man. I know. That's why we're going to open some packs here. Open some packs.
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Yes. What we got? Hey, our good friends at Panini, Donruss. You never know what you're going to get. It's like lottery in a pack, man.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, exactly. We got our camera view even on this one, so you get a little closer up. Oh, yeah. Look at that, Chris. Isn't that tight? Look at that. Oh. They're giving me nostalgia. They obviously agreed to who would be on the cover of these way before they came out. I mean, Aaron Rodgers kind of fizzled like the wind who's on the front of the cover. But you never know if you're not watching the –
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The YouTube video, you're not getting the full effect here. You're on YouTube, Spotify, or at RyanIsRight.com. You get links to this stuff. So we'll get in. It's kind of hard to do it in reverse, but look. All right, who we got here? Who we got? Who we got? Who we got? No, these first four. Oh, Jimmy Smith, nobody. I don't see any holographs. Tank Dell. Tank Dell, no autographs. And then this...
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Who's this? Tank Dell. Two Tank Dells in one. Two Dells in one. Roma Dense. Going to be pretty good as it comes up. Not bad. This would be the three hits of the card. Oh, this is my boy, though. T. Higgins. Clemson guy. Got to get that out. Check those out, man. Hey, look at the detail on these cards, though. I mean, look at the foil on that thing.
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That content alone might be worth the price of admission. I shut it down, but I don't know what facial features I had going on. You're in the zone. In the zone, man. Just got to shut it down. Yeah, but hey, they say it's great for you. I mean, I know we talk about it on the show. We have all these specialists on.
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I think we need, like, official cards of us with the foil on it. You know? Panini. You get it in there. Sports cards. Hopefully Tank Dell's going to be here. I feel like they're smaller than they used to be. It's because your hands are bigger. You're not 12 years old anymore. You know, you were a midget as a kid.
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Exactly. You never know. You never know. Tank Dell, I hope you have a great season. We've got two of you. So you never know what's going to happen. Shout out to our friends at Donruss and Panini. You never know what you're going to get. It's a lotto in a pack. Hey, it should be a DM. I might send you one of these. Aaron Rodgers. Lovely packs. You never know. You can pull it downtown.
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I made it numero uno. I didn't even tell you about this, Chris. It was in Asheville last week. They make these cards that are essentially, you know, like this, but it's like a downtown logo. And it shows the backdrop of like, almost like a artwork. And it was, I pulled a gold Josh Allen one of 10. It's a $5,000 card.
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I put it in the hard sleeve, dude. Dude, $20 pack, five grand. Crazy. That's crazy. I know. It's crazy what some of these things were. One of these packs right here. You never know. Lotto in the pack. Oh, that's all we got today. That's major, but giving you the latest, the greatest, the things to do. Any final words, my friend? Hey, everybody. We're getting to the end of February.
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Lock it in if you haven't already. Hey, lock it in. Make the best. Follow the trends, but don't let them get in your way. Yeah. RyanIsRight.com. You'll find all the highlight clips. Hey, you got to look at these highlight clips. We got Chris in studio looking great.
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nice and dapper here at 4k doing my best we appreciate wherever you're whenever however you're listening always love you for loving us we'll see you next time right about now this has been right about now with ryan alford a radcast network production visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities thanks for listening
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Supposedly, mentally, physically, your body just goes into this complete, you know, you can either let it overtake you or you just got to lock in. And then the hour after it that you're rewarming, I think, is the most interesting part. It's a buzz. I'd had an energy drink right before that combined. I'm like, whoo.
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I was like, yeah, who needs that in a good way? He needs to party drugs. He's go get the cold plunge. Yeah, exactly. But, uh, appreciate our friends at soul yoga. Who's right here next to us on the software betrayal. Give them a shout out. Appreciate, appreciate them.
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Hey, what's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's Friday, February 21st, 2025. Got my good friend Chris Hansen in the studio here, buddy.
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Their owner, Chris has been on my, our show actually here. So you can go check out that episode. He's a great entrepreneur. He's doing some amazing things, but we appreciate them. And, you know, we're going to jump right at it. It's funny. I feel like we read these headlines, Chris, and it's like the same. It's nuances to the same themes. Yeah. Okay. It's interest rates. It's tariffs. It's doge.
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Not the crypto. Though it could be. Yeah, it could be. You'll have to get your insights on the crypto today. The crypto has been sort of plateaued. I'm ready for it. It's time for a jump. It's time. You know, that's all there is.
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We'll get into it. So here's what, you know, companies are saying about the impact of these policies. So 2025 earnings session insight or season insights. Companies are grappling with the impact of President Donald Trump's policies, particularly tariffs and immigrations as frequent topics on earnings calls. Terms like tariff, immigration and newer concepts like Doge.
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I don't know that it's newer anymore. Department of government efficiency and Gulf of America are surfacing more often in corporate discussions. So all the talk. And I think, I think the jury's still out about what the impact is going to be. And I think that's why you're seeing people talk about it. It's raising eyebrows. They're like, okay,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
How much of this is dialogue that's not necessarily going to... The policy is not going to change. It's not going to affect every business. Back to, like we said, that negotiating tactics versus how many things are actually going to be put in place. I think that's where sort of the trepidation, depending on where you fall.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Good. Good to be here. Getting close here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
all right decisions have been made moves have been made now let's kind of just sit and see what happens yeah it says uncertainty remains across many of our core markets in the global economy we've game planned out several scenarios and steps we could take depending on what actually goes into effect that's from uh scott heron cfo of cisco So exactly.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
In the studio, live in G Vegas. We have, hey, welcome to the snow, brother.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Yep. And this was a quote from one of the CEOs. I think Doge is going to bring meritocracy and transparency to government. I think that's exactly what our commercial business is. So since the government continues to drive to be more efficient, we see this as a continued opportunity for the company. That was Bill Maney, CEO of Iron Mountain.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
I'm not familiar with Iron Mountain, but clearly he made the article.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
I think we're in this wait and see period. And all I can say is for people, most people listen to the show. Keep your head down, man. keep your head down and keep moving forward. Yeah. The headlines are so, I've found this a bit for myself, but we have this show. We want to talk about news and bring value and make it actionable and
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
But some of this stuff is like, we got to like remove ourselves from a bit. It's not because we're not interested, but like the daily impact is just, it can be distraction versus knowledge.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
That's what it feels like right now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, man. You never know. We get Greenville's, you know, right at the foothills, right below the base in the mountains. We get the four seasons in two weeks sometimes. It was 80 degrees two weeks ago. We got snow coming down. We're at the beautiful Social House, my co-work lounge here in Greenville on the Swan Private Trail. Come see us. Drop in any time. You never know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
I did. I did like this jumping straight to some of our, you know, lighter news, Coke launching simply pop. You know, this plays across both of our shows. I thought it was interesting. It's a prebiotic soda. I want to taste this just because it looks tasty.
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Strawberry pop. I mean, who doesn't want like a strawberry soda? I'm thinking like, you know, a cross between what like crush, not orange, but like strawberry crush. Yeah. It tastes anything like that. I'm in. I mean, I'm a fan of these.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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This is a marketing little, we're looking at our screen here of marketing. Yeah. This is the new term. Juice squeezed. It's like, it's like a, like it's a benefit. It's not fresh squeeze. It's juice squeeze. That's far concentrate. That's good marketing. If I've ever heard it, where else would it have come? Of course. Hey, how can we say it's sort of like fresh squeeze, but not fresh squeeze.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
It's juice squeeze. What the hell does, what does juice squeeze mean? You don't squeeze the juice. You squeeze the fruit. So, sorry, Coke. You got a marketer here reading business news. I know all the tricks. That's one of them right there. They went to legal and said, how can we say this? Made with real fruit juice. So it's juice squeezed.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
It's a... From concentrate.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Then concentrated. So it's juice squeezed, not fruit squeezed. And then concentrated.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Lots of prebiotics. I've always thought prebiotics sounded bad. I don't know why, but when I first heard it, and I was very ill-informed five or six years ago, when it was starting to bubble up, I was like... And it wasn't necessarily in the context that it is now. Oh, that doesn't sound good. I think I was like antibiotics. Like it's the opposite of an antibiotic. Prebiotic.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Don't put that in my drink. Do not put that in my drink. I want no prebiotics. I need antibiotics. Yeah. And now it's in everything. Anyway, it has nothing to do with that. And I was an idiot. It's something to do with your gut health. It helps your gut health.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Yes. Um, But I'm liking these flavors. I like the cans. I got the Simply. I just hope it tastes good, man. I got to have good taste. That's what it comes down to. Can you make it healthy and taste good? A lot of times those things fight with one another.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Yeah, but I will say this as it relates to the business market. All these alternative drinks are the rage.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
So you have declining alcohol drinkers. You have people really watching the sugar content. Yeah. You have people wanting... Alternative ways to get energy or different buzzes. Electrolytes. That aren't as seemingly unhealthy as alcohol and other things. So there's a lot of damn money in this. It's just, it seems like it's hard to get traction.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Mr. Hanson might be here, you know. It's a great spot. We appreciate everyone for listening wherever, whenever you're catching us. We're bringing you today's hottest business news as always. And, you know, anything else we want to get into. We might even have a second angle here today. It's some of the sports card business we've been talking about. So, yeah. My kids and I have been watching.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
Like we've seen a lot of companies, you know, direct to retail, all that stuff. It's just... One thing with Coke launches, they've already got a billion places of distribution. But it's big business in the liquid. Because look, people always want something fresh to drink. You know, water's great, but I think there's always room for this stuff.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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But I think there's like this new, I don't know, the health drink business is supposed to be like 10x in the next few years. What's your favorite drink, Chris, that's in this space of kind of wellness? I mean, outside of like a natural cold-pressed juice. Yeah, like anything that's like...
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Tanner Iskra I think you're going to start seeing more of that at the bars. It becomes more mainstream and obviously legal. I'm not suggesting like, you know- Tanner Iskra And bars have tried, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
I think that will start to get out of the way as you see the growth. And then it's just, but I do think sometimes there's like contrary. It's like if you're getting buzzed up drunk versus the mellow, those are opposing parties.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I'm not like a raging, like I don't know. I can drink 10 beers and be kind of the same guy. Some valuable personalities change.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
I think you're going to see a lot in that. I would just caution people listening. D to C is tough. Yeah. You got to get distribution.
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I mean, it's almost addictive watching these YouTube videos, watching people open cards.
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Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
You have to drink a lot of those drinks to make it happen. The, uh, I saw this. So Elon Musk related to Doge is weighing a Doge dividend. To send Americans text using saved funds.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News of the Week: Policy Impacts to Business - DOGE Delivering Checks - Sports Card Market
He later said that Doge's partners should be on closing the federal budget deficit. So I guess he's like, I guess before we should, you know, send checks, we need to close the deficit. But nonetheless, you know, everybody not like that, like the way he's getting there. But I like what he's trying to do.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I'm doing all these little projects and like I run out of spray paint or I run out of like some screws or something. I get on walmart.com. That shit is it, my house, in 45 minutes. This man, if you guys- You don't want to take the e-bike down there and just pick that?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I don't even remember why. I mean, it wasn't out of gas. Just because you could. Yeah, exactly.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I am the world's worst of I got to have it when I got to have it. I mean, this isn't like $5,000. Oh, I got to have a $5,000 watch or something right now. No, this is like, you know.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Decorating a room. You never know what's going on.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yes. So home deep. But here's where I was going with that. Walmart. It's even kicking Amazon's ass in delivery because everyday items and some things that I would have normally ordered from Amazon for their supposed two-day that's not always two days anymore, we know.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I'm getting within an hour from Walmart and with my, you know, Walmart thing, express delivery, discount, not much difference in cost.
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Same day, same hour delivery.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Well, we'll see. We're going to have to beat out one of them.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Is that it on the nice list?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
She did make a lot of money.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Can't can't don't hate the player at the game.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
So that's it's too bad that her endorsement didn't work out or help more. Sure. Sorry. Had to go there.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah, I know. Hey, at least, I mean, to be such a winner, she was such a loser.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I mean, look, she's fucking Taylor Swift. She ain't give a shit what I say. The woman's making, it's like, she's raking in money. You know, we're raking leaves here. She's raking money. She's royalty. Yeah, she is. So I'll probably, I'll get some Swifty hate. I know that, but I'm just saying, you know, like just at least get your, you know. My lips are sealed. Get your policies right.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
He likes her music or he likes her personally?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I mean, she's got catchy music. I don't, it's not my thing, but I can respect the, the, the fact that it's catchy music.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
You know, it was a brush it off. I don't hate it. Shake it off. Shake it off. Yeah. Yeah. Shake it off.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I'm new to that. I like good tunes, but I can separate. Some people get so on thing. I might hate your politics and still like your music.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
She still makes hits. Yeah, I respect that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Oh, hmm. Anyone that endorsed Kamala, any business, you know, even Bezos was smart enough to not let the Washington Post get egg in their face. You know, it's like you didn't let them endorse them because he didn't want to be a loser.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
So, you know, I mean, insert lists here. And I think we we forget quickly because the news cycle. I'm bad about this. I mean, our shows news and like one week we talk about one thing and the other. Very few things carry forward in the news cycle. But I I'm not forgetting what Bud Light did.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I know. Before we got started, I've got, you know, a sleeve going here and I've got like one segment left. So I got to go see my boy.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
You know, I come on, man, you know, with those cans and and it's less that I am getting on the stool of judging them for the actual action as a marketer, as a brand guy. I'm getting on it from the how the hell do you not know who your audience is? Like, what the hell are you doing?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Like, to not know who your customers are and how many people you're pissing off to do something that you thought was making a stand on something that most people don't even fucking agree with. It's like, come on. Send them all the way to the bottom of the naughty list.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah. You go to the land of misfit toys with no pass out.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely on there. You're down there. That's just a stupid list. Naughty list. Whatever. Come on.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah, this is sort of they've done a good job of like trying to make this fly under the radar.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
They did a test on roadblocks and they thought that was good enough. They got it in the metaverse and tested them.
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Like my son, who's seven at the time, was participating. And they were like, that's good enough, right? If it works, if it doesn't explode in the metaverse, it'd be fine on the roads.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
$350 million. That's an IOU. Might want to hold on to that one.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Well, I don't. It's in a spot now where I don't see it every time. So it's like I lift my arm. Oh, shit.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
So I put it, that's why I don't listen to anybody on there. I put on my AirPods. I put that shit on noise.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah, I mainly just not hear my wife and kids, but it works for the whole way. I'm kidding, Nicole. Mainly just the kids.
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I mean, if you've tasted that stuff, it's contaminated all the time. Like, come on. I mean, you know, it's always. And it reminds me of a song that I listen to when I'm working out, Banks Contaminated. That's like a jam. Let me just tell you. Go listen to that.
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Nice plug. Banks is underrated. So go listen to her. I like Banks. Yeah. Yeah. So definitely underrated. But. Anything on your naughty list, Chris, that we haven't named?
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It's like two hours in the chair. That's it. And we'll get it done. So my boy is in California most of the time. So he only comes back. So I have to always time it. So it's always a scheduling thing. So we'll, we'll see.
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Is it Bad Boy Entertainment? Yeah. Bad Boy Records. Bad Boy Entertainment. What was your favorite Diddy song of all time? Puff Daddy.
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If he somehow gets out of this, I think he should go back to Puff Daddy. I think Diddy's done. He's probably going to sit in prison the rest of his life, but if somehow he gets out of it, I think he should go back to Puff Daddy.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I mean, how many jars of baby oil was it? Like 9,000 cases in his house? Hey, stock up baby oil. Stock down Puff Daddy. How much did Johnson & Johnson's make on all that? Who knows? What if it helped their sales or hurt them? The halo around him, man, I don't know how it gets any worse.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
It's like every week you hear somebody like Jay-Z, something, and I'm not following every detail of those stories. It's just like it's gossipy. I love some gossip that's in my realm. It's fine. That's just sort of on the far edge of my attention span. But it does seem like every week there's like – Whoever, such and such actor who was tied to Diddy.
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You know, because who was, who's the guy that, one of the other actors that was majorly tied to him. I can't remember what his name is. Not as popular as he used to be. Doesn't make for good audio to bring people up that we don't know the name of, but. Insert old famous actor that used to be hanging around Diddy Parties. Because that's what it is.
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Every week it's like, used to attend the Diddy Parties. Oh, like Leo DiCaprio. Yeah, he was one of them, but it's like another one too.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
But bring that Puff Daddy. Bring the back Puff Daddy if you make it through this. But if everything's true, then he needs to go away. He's cooked. It seems. Doesn't it just seem like it's past the point of return?
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yes. I'm going to California. And I don't know if I want to get a tat while I'm in California. I just want to do something more fun. You know, it's not it's not I like the end result. But let's be honest, sitting in a chair, getting your arm cut up is not really true.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
i wonder what like an autograph poster of diddy was worth like two years ago versus now is it going up or going down you know sometimes this weird shit like when bad stuff happens yeah like serial killers yeah it's like i think his is gonna go down yeah i think so do you uh as we close out today chris is uh what do you think of this drone shit going on man You're the conspiracy theory guy.
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Kind of. I don't know, man. So putting the conspiracy theories to the side, what does Chris's gut tell him?
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah. Which... Sawyer usually gets into shit like this. Sawyer, do you have an opinion on this? I don't know anything about this. All right. He's going to pass on this. I just... I just... It's getting too much to ignore as a story. Even as a business show, it's kind of owning the headlines the last week. And so it's too big to sort of ignore.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
It's just bothersome that normally the government would at least acknowledge something. And like Trump came out and said, oh, the government knows what it is. They seem to tell us at least high level what it is and this would go away. But they're denying that they know what it is at all. And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
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I mean, I don't think that necessarily looks trust and safety with the American people.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
And look, let's be honest. I mean, the outgoing administration, how much trust? If there's a trust meter.
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We're at zero or negative already. You know, we pardoned our son that we said we never would. Yeah. And look, I'm OK with pardoning his son, but just admit it. Why didn't you just admit you were going to four months ago or just say no comment? But to fall on your cross to say or your sword, whatever, like that you were going to not do it.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
And so then all this to say the credibility and trust factor on drones or anything else is just like, what are you talking about? And. In today's technology with satellites and reconnaissance and all the stuff and technology that we do have, it gets me a little worried if we really don't know what this is. That shit can fly in our airspace at the volume that this seems to be happening. And.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
If I'm a criminal or something, like, I'd be emboldened by this. Right? Like, I mean, if you can get away with it, if it's true, I think it's just somebody needs to put it to bed, like, with what it is or isn't. Shoot one of these fucking things down and, like, let's find out. Chris, let's go tackle that thing, man. Mayors need some action.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yes. Jody, Mr. Inkwell's. Go check him out on Instagram. Incredible artist who happens to be a tattoo guy. Anyway, how's everyone today? What's up, Chris? How's old Miami back in the saddle down there?
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah, you would think so. And, I mean, they say it's illegal. I'm sort of kidding a little bit. It's illegal to shoot a drone, supposedly. But. If there's ever been a case, I mean, wouldn't you be a hero for all time if you got one of those things down? I can figure it out the mystery. And there was like a USSR like on the side of it or something like a Russian logo on the side.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
And you're like, you took it down or whatever. You go scary shit. And the folk hero took the drone down. This is like, I mean, this is like freaking space invaders. Like, pew, pew, pew, just shooting up in the sky hoping you hit a fucking rocket ship. Like, what the hell? Anyway. That was our naughty and nice list.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
And, hey, if you've got something interesting to say about the drones, if you've got good insight, send us a message. You're going to find us. RyanIsRight.com. All the highlight clips. You can even drop us a voicemail there at RyanIsRight.com. Leave us a voice message. I don't ever promote that enough. We've got that functionality on our site. I do get the DMs on Insta. Appreciate that.
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Hit me up anytime. Hit Chris up, at Chris Broby Hanson. Any final words, Chris?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
That's right. Our last episode before Christmas for the news. We'll have a release right before next week. A lot of light content next week. We're going to do our... And all it's going to essentially what it is, is, you know, everybody's got resolutions and stuff like that. We're doing the, you know, all business, no BS. And these aren't resolutions.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
These are the top 10 things you need to do to kick ass in 2025. I've already made the list. We're going to be recording that. That's going to be on our news release next Friday. Because again, we're taking the BS out of business. We'll see you next time. Right about now.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
What's the climate? And I mean more, not temperature, but Miami the week of Christmas. Like, what's the scene in Miami the week of Christmas? I mean, it's very festive.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I guess it's just, I always, even in Greenville, we're cold here right now. You know, it's in the 30s at night.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Ho, ho, ho. Merry almost Christmas. What's up? Welcome to Right About Now. It is Friday, December 20th, 2024. If you haven't started Christmas shopping, you're late, but we're here to help. Maybe. I don't know. Are we here to help, Brianna?
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But a little humid. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I'll be on the beach in three weeks with the vacay. So, you know. I can't say too much in case my kids listen to this. Supposedly, they don't. My wife doesn't really let them. Is that a secret? Because daddy has a potty mouth sometimes or a lot of times. Yeah, it's a secret. They don't know. They don't know when or where.
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If one of you is listening, do not tell your other siblings. But yeah, we give them a gift trip every year.
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They got more shit than they know how to do it. So it's like, let's go somewhere.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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So we'll be beaching it. Can't say the destination. Let's just say it's tropical-ish. And I'll be having a Mai Tai and, you know, a beer. Maybe all at once. With Miss Alford.
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Yeah, that'll do it to you. That will do it to you. But hey, that's the American dream. You bought a house number two.
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There you go. Living it. What do we got going on today?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah. So prerequisite to this or, you know, just the cheat sheet. You know, we just kind of make it up as we go here, like the rules that we want. So we're we're classifying naughty and nice as sort of either they just did something really obviously stupid or maybe a bad year economically. And the nice list is more OK on the up and up. Things have gone well and it's less bad. I don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Judgment. Like, I mean, we could look, this is an opinion show, you know, take it, take it or leave it. But I think it's more like, okay, who's been successful. You don't have to like them, but has it been a good year for them?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Okay. Well, we could still, we, Hey, we can, I like to smack people down and then prop them up. Yeah. You know, it's like give it to you those people say hey be nice give them the good news first and i like to you gotta push them down to bring them up i got tracks uh you know you got to that's how it goes all right ryan you want to start off us off with nice business or um entrepreneur number one
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Sure. I mean, I'm going to go out with the most obvious first. So nice being in this sort of position would be it's been a good year for them. And I'm just going to start with Trump. So Trump Inc. as a whole, in every business unit, I can't speak to the financials. But let's just say if you are in the halo of the Trump circle, It's been a nice year for you. You've won the presidency.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yes. Brianna Hall here in studio. What's up, Brianna?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
We're about to get the economy back in order. You're seeing signs of that already. But all the sort of atmosphere of Trump Incorporated... I would say it's been a nice year for them. And, you know, I happen to support most of that side. So I'm OK, you know, with my opinion being both nice and good for business overall. So I think it's hard to deny.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Chris. What's up? What's up?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Again, I like I'm a big sentiment guy, like the sentiment, the aura, all the sort of chi around an entity. And right now it's at a very high level with all things sort of in Trump's camp. And that doesn't mean everyone likes the guy. Obviously, the guy would have won like 80 to 20 percent if if that were true.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
He you know, the numbers were closer than they should have been purely because people voted for I hate Trump versus, you know, I want what's good for the economy. So I think that would be first and most obvious for me on sort of the it's a nice year for them.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
He won person of the year with time, which I think was a pretty interesting thing. And let me give you some action items from this. Okay. So what does this mean? Okay. What are things in the aura around Trump that you should take advantage of? How should you take action on this knowledge? Well, let me start with one. Crypto.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Crypto, I don't know if the whole year would go into the nice camp, but the signals and signs heading into 2025, you have regulation sort of softening, for lack of a better word, and acceptance. You have all the major players, you know, the... Mass adoption.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah, mass adoption and Trump supporting it and all his people that he's going to be putting in the higher positions around finance and all the stuff supporting it. So go hard on crypto. It's not going to go to zero and you're going to have ups and downs, but this is a legitimate... And I think...
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
This is a time period where I think – and I think there was the gold rush of Florida years ago where you could make some money. Myself, I made some money. But I kind of got in and got out. Knew it was temporary, especially once the travesty that happened happened. But now I think you're going to look back –
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
it like this, this is the beginning of the, the big rush of the next, like what, 10, 20 years, you know, like forever.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
So I didn't want to go there. Maybe you left the problems behind. I don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Yeah. And so I don't think you're going to, in what I've seen, I've been in, I've been very vocal about this, been in a few grand here and there and up about, I don't know, 25, 30% in the last like six weeks and, I don't think you're going to see the 4,000% overnight stuff that you saw four or five years ago. I mean, you might. I'm not saying you won't ever. You've got to find that stuff.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
It's more that I think you're going to see this 20 to 30 different coins that are $1, 50 cents, $2, whatever, but have a real stable that 20 years from now are – Two hundred dollars or what? And the compounding effect of reinvestment in all of that can make is, I think, going to outpace typical stocks. All all the signs point that to me.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
And so that's something if I would be thinking about it within this halo of sort of Trump incorporated and the things around it that will go up. There's your nice tip and whatever. I know that was a long one, but I think that was needed more explanation. Very good one.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Hope everybody is good wherever, whenever, however you're listening here in the holidays. We know you have options. We appreciate you making us one of them. So, again, you need to be watching on YouTube, though. We're live. If you're watching this and catching it on YouTube, you'll be watching it live for the first time. We do this live at 10 a.m. On Fridays, it comes and releases. So check out
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Big E. Let me say this. We all know he's a smart guy. I think he's smarter than we even know he is. The way he put his eggs in the Trump basket was brilliant. Now, I think he believed. I really do. I really do believe he believes in the policies and approach. And like a lot of CEOs, the day that Trump took that bullet and he stood up, I think it changed a lot of people's minds, including Elon's.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
So this guy's smart. Not just for show. He really means and really cares for this country. He's not a perfect man. He's a very flawed man. But I think Elon is smarter than we realize because he's helped push that and he's riding that train. And his companies are doing well and he's super brilliant. And SpaceX... Can't be denied.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
But I think he's even smarter than you realize because the last thing, if you told someone three years ago that Elon was going to do what he ended up doing with Trump, would anybody have believed that?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
But you know what it means? It means Elon's smart enough to change. Your intelligence is only limited in the amount that you can or can't change. And even Elon Musk changed. One of the smartest men in the world.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
So he's a, a big winner. And now like, I think the richest man in the world right now, I think 50 billion or something, 500 billion. It's like, can you comprehend that? Can we get that? I need that on a number board somewhere. I'll call those heroes. It's a lot. So, uh,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
This should have been the it must be nice list.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
And other than hating the checkout process, the rest of the store, I was like, you know, surprised that even I look, you know, the last time I walked through like the clothes department at a Walmart and like it remotely was like, hey, it's pretty.
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The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I'm getting it together. You know, it's like I felt like. They took the best to target, and now they're slapping them in the face with what they did good and what they've always done, which is low prices. Low prices combined with a little bit of style and some random shit that you didn't need, but you end up buying. Whatever playbook that is. Discoverability on the aisles.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
You know, we do create what I would think is a video product, you know, sometimes just audio only. And my, you know, my best, you know, I look great for radio, they say. I got a face for radio. But nonetheless, Chris and Brianna bring the A game. I might take the average down, but I...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
I was like, all right, now if you could just get out this checkout line shit figured out. I might come here more often, but...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
The 2024 Naughty and Nice Businesses List
Well, let me tell you. Let me give you another insight here of where they're kicking everybody's ass. Amazon does not have same-day delivery in Greenville, South Carolina. However... Walmart, I can get shit to my house if I'm doing a project or whatever. And I like to do random shit and I like it when I need it. Like I've been doing like I'm turning in my dad.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Trump Inauguration News, Cryptocurrency Trends, and Amazon NOT Prime
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. Right about now.
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Trump Inauguration News, Cryptocurrency Trends, and Amazon NOT Prime
Exactly. And so crypto is on the upswing. I did see, you know, inflation. The numbers were so-so. So interest rates were probably going to hang tight. And we like to keep it on the positive end. So this isn't meant to be Debra Downer stuff. It's been it's been it's really meant to be more WTF. This is. I'm a business and marketing guy, but I'm not a financial planner expert.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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I don't pretend to be. We bring you knowledge and articles and things and some opinions. But with that said, here's where I start to go, hmm. And just saw the news. JP Morgan just posted record annual profits as major U.S. banks thrive in the final quarter of 2024. Wow.
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Yeah, New Year's, and we've got an inauguration coming up on Monday. President Trump. It's a pretty unique thing. It was like one other time. I forget. I think I read this a while back. I should know my history better. I know. But we're in between presidents elected, not elected, elected, in office. It's a pretty unique situation, right? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.
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JP Morgan's net income soared 50% to more than $14 billion in the fourth quarter as the bank's profits and revenue easily beat Wall Street forecasts. Other major banks reported better banner earnings for the year. So we've had a so-so business year. We've had a high interest rate year. And the banks have banked it. Hmm. I just... What do they say?
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There's smoke and it stinks and it gets in your eyes. There's usually a fucking fire somewhere. It just smells to me. You know, like, I'm sorry that I'm cynical, but I am.
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And so when it feels like it's been a mediocre year and the real estate market sort of floundered, and I'm not the biggest defender of real estate either, but I will just say the banks making all this money just doesn't smell right to me.
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Emotional damage.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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We'll leave it there. We'll give that comment a ding. Cause I think that, yeah, let's just say, My intuition's normally right. For good and bad. Unfortunately. And I think this is what we should be hearing related to us and this. That's what happens, I think, when the banks go up. I think it's that for everyone else, unfortunately. I'm not a bank hater. I have some friends that are bankers.
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I think it's an inverse relationship. Yes. Inverse. It's... What's good for them isn't always good for us, especially fees. But now, hey, they don't have to make money on fees. It's just all these interest rates that are so favorably in their favor. Anyway, we'll leave it there. So impacts from Trump.
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We've got the market, you know, inflation hanging around, unfortunately, which is helping the banks. I saw this. I thought it was interesting. It comes to us from our good friends at CNN. Great friends. Starbucks ends its open door policies. I didn't know they still had this. So Starbucks ends its open door policies. Starbucks has introduced a new code of conduct for customers.
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I didn't know you could actually do that. I started doing that, you know, code of conduct for my clients. Ending its open door policy that allowed non-paying individuals to use restrooms or hang out in cafes. Maybe that'll boost my co-work business. You know, they can't hang out at the Starbucks. They're not drinking coffee anymore.
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The policy aims to prioritize paying customers and enhance the cafe experience. Wow. Yeah. They actually wrote that in print. Kind of wild. Yeah, exactly. Go figure.
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Did everything squung too far? Just like old Zuck getting in line, like, you know. And it says the open door policy faced challenges. No shit.
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Trump Inauguration News, Cryptocurrency Trends, and Amazon NOT Prime
Well, no, it's more that the open door, it's faced challenges, which is why they've changed it. They said with non-paying customers, homeless individuals, and those seeking shelter or restroom access. It caused tension among employees and distracted from paying customer experiences. I mean, it's like, did you not see that coming? Yeah. I get it. People got to go to the bathroom.
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I can't think of anything that's happened. Some random president that I should remember. Someone's going to give me some schooling over that. But Trump will be back in office. Whoever's asleep at the wheel will get out and we'll get on with this thing. Talk about policies, not about elections and everything else.
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But it's a business. Sorry. I have been there. And you know what I normally do? I'll go buy a cup of coffee or I'll go buy a cheeseburger. I'll go use the bathroom. You know, like those kind of like your duty there. It's not their duty to run a business at a bathroom for you to use it. Sorry. And yet it's neighborly and nice and all that.
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And if you know your local and if you're if you're giving them patronage throughout the week and they know you. And you stop in and you had the emergency. OK, fine. You know, of course. But like same time, it's not a public restroom. It's a place of business. So ban says new rules and incentives. Bans include panhandling, vaping, discrimination and outside alcohol consumption.
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Sitting at the table listening to. Getting a cherry ice vape. Yeah. This could be a great SNL skit. Playing one of those songs that's so typical coffee house with the smell of the coffee. Training will be provided to employees to enforce the rules.
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Yeah. No, not really the ones I do either, but I'm not in a big metropolis city. And look, I'm not hating on homeless people or people that use it. This isn't a hate bash on any of them. It's just more of the... I don't know, the common sense of business.
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Yeah, and you're not running a public bathroom. That's not their job, and they're not beholden to that.
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Yeah. And this is where I think we're getting like rid of some common, like some things that have crept in that are not, you know, great for business, not common sense, not good for paying customers, not good for overall. Another one would be Amazon ending its try before you buy program. They did that. Yeah. It's a, it's moving to Tinder. Sorry. I had to go there. Yeah. Amazon ends.
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Try before you buy program. Can't have that milk or you buy the cow. Launch and closure. Amazon launched. These are the dates. Amazon lost program in 2017. It'll phase it out at the end of this month. It allowed prime customers to try up to six apparel items at a time for a week. before deciding what to keep in return, i.e. they just wear it, go to the event, and send it back.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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So, look, we do have part of the show notes because I thought it was pretty interesting, like all the business-related stuff that's happening in and around the inauguration. Some of the things, and today's episode is going to be pretty loose. Chris and I are going to kind of flip-flop on a few topics as we open up the playbook here on Right About Now. We're going to talk crypto.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Trump Inauguration News, Cryptocurrency Trends, and Amazon NOT Prime
Reason for ending, it's stated by them, customers prefer a broader selection of items and faster delivery speeds. growing reliance on AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, and improved size charts. I mean, they didn't say what we know to be true, which is too many people truly trying before they're buying.
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Well, it's usually – look, I mean, you don't – I have a – we have a full episode of me talking about size issues as a 6'4", 270-pound man.
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Either I get the Bermuda cutoff, the, you know, or – I've gone through that. I'm XL, double XL slim. I'm a weird size anyway because I don't have a gigantic fat stomach, but I'm broad-shouldered. Unless it's a muscle fit or something like that, it's out to here a foot wider than I am. Oh, God. I think the Asian size...
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is not the standard you get an a if i get an xl men's made in asia my eighth grade son can't wear that thing yeah so i can't get it over my head you know it's a nice medium I can't pull that off, but yeah, the sizing is the biggest issue. It's not universal. I need that Asian triple XL. Yeah. I'm like five X in the Asian XL. I don't know why.
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They do. And I think here's what I'm going to say. I don't want to pick a fight with Amazon. I like them overall. I really do. Jeff, I love you, man. Jeff Bezos, call me. We'll have you on the show anytime. You can talk about any of this. But I'll say this. Here's my bigger problem with Amazon. Get rid of the tribe before you buy a thumb anyway. So, totally fine.
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Here's where I have a bone to pick. If you're going to be two-day shipping... or you're going to tell me that you will have this tomorrow or Friday within the, when you go to buy it. That shit better be there nine out of 10 times.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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We're going to talk the impacts of the inauguration, financial news, inflation. Some store closings, the impact of that, and a few other topics that we'll get into. But we'll start right off the top, the inaugurations on Monday. And I was fascinated, I don't know about you, Chris, just like the overall list of attendees. Like, it's a powerhouse, man.
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Let's just say I've ordered four or five things the last month based on, okay, I don't want to go buy it locally because I don't need it today, but I need it tomorrow or the next day. And it tells me, I bought this camera case yesterday, You know, we got production studio and Amazon, you know, frigging running an agency here. I needed a rig for one of the cameras and I needed it Friday.
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Ordered it last Wednesday. It said, be there Friday. You just casually get these emails on Friday. Ah, not going to come today. It'll be there to you on Tuesday. And let's just say that used to be one out of every 20 things you'd order. Okay. Okay. Not going to always get it right. I'm reasonable. Not the unreasonable customer. Not that guy that thinks you're going to get perfect every time.
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But it's getting to be like three, four out of every 30 to 40% of the time, we are not hitting the date. And this isn't weather delays. This isn't we got seven feet of snow on the ground here in South Carolina. And I know there's snow elsewhere. But, you know, and I'm not expecting it the same day or even overnight, right?
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But when you tell me you're going to have it that day and I'm planning on it, you got to get that shit right more than you get it wrong. And it's getting bad. Like two days, no longer two day prime. You bought the prime. I pay the prime fee for the guaranteed two day.
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Yeah. Well, fine. You can do that. But here's what's happening, Amazon, and it's a slippery slope. You have earned trust with buyers like me because you've gotten this way more right than you've gotten it wrong over the years. With the two-day or guaranteeing one day or telling you the day, you got it right 90% of the time.
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But your brand starts eroding trust real damn fast when you start getting this wrong more than you get it right. And it will have an impact. So be careful.
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That or I'll just go to the store.
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Or here's what's happened, Chris. Jeff, listen carefully. You're not going to like this one. This is even worse. I'm going to Walmart.com app. It's been a lot. I spent more on the Walmart app in the last month than I have in the last two years combined. Because we buy, look, my wife and I are both high-level positions, multiple companies. She's a principal at a middle school working her ass off.
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We rely on these services, you know? And so Walmart has all these, the retail footprint. I'm getting shit same day. and gladly paying for it. And so it's eroding, it's eroding trust and you're going to a competitor. So be careful. And now look, they're a behemoth doing billions of dollars. They're not going out of business. That's not what Ryan offered to say. All I'm saying is be careful.
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Cause the, the big ones fall hard. I've watched it real fucking hard.
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And I could actually, it's a little shitty, but like, I could even like as a business owner, like, okay, fine.
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Exactly. Or the if you tell me three day like that's my problem is they're they're telling me like if I let's say it was a Tuesday and they're saying it'll be to you Friday. They're just saying coming to you Friday because they do that now. It says prime. That's not two day. It's three day.
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I know that a lot of important people show up for every presidential election. But there's a substantial business flair, business aroma from this inauguration with the people that are going to be there. I'm going to give you the list to get your reaction here. So, which billionaires will attend other than Elon Musk? Well... Tesla SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will be there. His net worth is $423 billion.
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But OK, but I know I'll get it by Friday because I need that shit this weekend and you don't get it to me till Tuesday or Monday. That's a problem, especially if it's not one out of 10 times. It's three out of 10, four out of 10, which is what's happening now. So I know people are listening and shaking their head on this one because I can't be the only one.
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It's they're eroding some trust with me. You're definitely not the only one. And so it, I'm, and I'm a forgiving, reasonable guy. Cause I run business. I know how it all works. Like I get it. I'm not expecting perfection, but you got to get it right more than you get it wrong. Or you need to fix your date system. And every one of those is not related to snow in Kentucky. I'm sorry.
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You know, I get the time of year. There's trial. I mean, look, there's hurricane. There's always a weather issue. So we can use that in the 10%, but it can't creep to 30 or 40. Or you need to send me a damn note. How about this, Chris? Send me a note that we told you Friday. They have all the AI. They have all the money, all the tech.
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Send me a note the moment you know that's no longer going to happen like you told me it was going to happen. And you can cancel the order. Or keep it. Because part of the decision in buying the product was determined on when you were going to get it. True. I'm on a soapbox on this one, man. But I think it's real. It is. And look, I deal with this too. I hate it.
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If I tell a customer, I want to do what I say I will do. Or I want my people to do it. And we don't always... Have that happen. And when I don't, I hate it, but I got to own up to it. but Amazon doesn't do anything. They just send you a note the day you're supposed to get it, usually at nine o'clock at night where you can do nothing else. You're paralyzed. I'm expecting it Friday.
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The deliveries come so damn late in the day now that you're still hoping for it. I'm going to sit there with my wife. One of us might be expecting a package and we're still holding out hope at like 8.15 because damn, to give them credit, Those fuckers will show up, you know, 8.15, 8.30. You might can still get it. And we're still holding out hope.
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And the tracking will still say on time, on delivery, whatever it is. And then about 9.57, because I'm like halfway asleep watching TV. We're sorry to inform you. This will be there on Tuesday. Thank you. In and out. You know, like no ability. It just says you will now get it Tuesday. It doesn't say you can cancel or it doesn't say you can do anything.
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And I know on the back end, they're good about it. Like I could cancel it once it got here and they'll refund my money. But you counted on it. You know, you assumed it.
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It's frustrating. They've built, like if this is a bank account, withdrawals and deposits. They've come through way more. But we're getting to a point of where I didn't think I'd ever be with them with eroding those deposits and withdrawals of trust. Shame. I've got to say about that. Shame. I need that toilet paper to arrive on Friday like they said it would.
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We got six dudes in the house. I mean, you know, six people, five dudes. We need some TP. I don't even talk about TP, but like, you know, but like, sometimes I'm doing this. You can do this. Hey, got an event on Saturday night. You've done this before, I'm sure. That shit's delivering on Friday. You're like, oh, good. I don't have to go to the store.
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It's the brand that I bought from them before, so I know the size fits. Not the other thing. Not the Asian 5X, but something you've bought before. New shirt. Don't have to go out to the mall. All the reasons you do e-comm.
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comes around, and you get the email. We're sorry to inform you. This will be delivering on Wednesday. I'm like, sorry. Like, because the Saturday events the next night, now I got to go to the mall. I got to go deal with the riffraff. I got to go buy Spencer's and some kid with an ugly t-shirt on blowing bubble gum in my face. I'm just like, you know, I got to go deal with that.
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What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It is our weekly business and marketing news of the week here on January 17th, 2025. I'm joined, as always, by my good friend, Chris Hansen. What's up, brother? What's up, Brian? How are you today, bro? Good. I'm good. Always getting right. Always right here in good old Greenville, South Carolina.
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I don't want to deal with that.
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I buy seven more things that I don't need. Some kind of popcorn brand I've never heard of. I mean, you know, that's what happens when you go to the mall.
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Yep. So there's my 10 minute rant on Amazon. Had nothing to do with try it on, but it set it up for me perfectly, Chris. I've been waiting for that one. And I hope, I think that's relatable though. I think there's a lot of nodding of the head. So Jeff, call us. We'll bring you on. You can explain how you're using AI and robots and everything else to get this right.
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We have CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who we talked about last week. $205 billion net worth. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, $232 billion. Lots of Bs flying around here, you know. Damn, dude. We'll attend. And so Mark, Jeff, and Elon are going to be seated together on the platform alongside Trump's cabinet. CEO Sam Altman of OpenAI will also be – I love this, man.
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But Walmart, Uncle Sam, Sam Walton, you know, get more of my business. had more spray paint delivered same day than I could count. Been doing some, you know, like a couple of different little hobbies now that like ease my mind. Fixing up old graffiti. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, don't want to give that out. The sides of great, lovely Greenville, South Carolina graffiti farm. No, no. Fixing up old golf carts.
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I've been, Like reimagining, whatever you want to call it.
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Yeah, buy, refurb. I haven't sold a couple of them that I've got yet, but I've got them refurbed, and they look pretty nice. I started a YouTube channel on flipping golf carts or something.
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Yeah.
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Uh, yeah, I come up with a clever, like something like related golf, like name, like, yeah, better than flipping carts, but something like that. That would be a total switcheroo, mind switch, because you think you're going to see golf carts flipping. Which is common. Which is common. Let's be honest.
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I actually call it flipping birdies. Flipping birds. And I didn't mean that to anyone. That'll probably get banned off of there. Actually, no, we're not censoring anymore. So, yeah. But anyway, I digress. I think that's all we have time for today as much as, you know, I got on my Amazon rant. But the last thing that was kind of on our list, one in five job postings are fake or unfilled.
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So be careful out there if you're looking for a job. I will admit, you know, I always read stuff like this and I go, have we ever done that? I've never done it purposefully, but here's what's happened. I have posted several jobs where, okay, business changes or I promote someone and then it never gets filled because we made an internal decision. But it's also hard as a small team to
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when you get a lot of – reaching back out and communicating to everyone, even when you don't – and we try to do better than most at this. It's hard, like keeping up with every single thing when you don't – I mean, when we're seven to ten people in this office, and again, I'm not justifying it.
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I'm just admitting that it can be difficult in trying to do the right thing and trying to keep up with every single person and every follow-up and all that. So it's hard sometimes. But I don't think I've ever – purposely posted a job for it to be an absolute fake that I was not going to fill. But it's obviously on the rise. I don't know what it says. It says example. I don't know what or why.
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It doesn't say necessarily why people would do it. I don't know what would motivate the company. Maybe get candidates that they... Look at, but aren't planning to hire.
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Or to look like they're growing. Look at all, we have 21 open positions. Yeah, that's true. Fake the sentiment. That's true. That could be a tactic.
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Yeah, exactly. All this talk about inauguration. Politics has got me thinking about our sponsor. Independence Center. IndependenceCenter.org. Go sign up for their newsletter. Get news straight to your inbox about policies, about progress, about what's happening, about understanding some of these really complex things that are going on. I don't always understand it.
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This bill that's about this policy and this number and all that. And, like, I'm educated. I feel like I'm a pretty smart guy. Yeah. My wife might disagree. But I think for the most part, I am. And sometimes I don't even get it all. That's why we partner with Independent Center. They cut through the noise. They bring it straight to why something matters. Removing the politics.
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Removing the right and the left. Keeping it straight down the center. Independentcenter.org. Go sign up for the newsletter. Chris and I support them. You should support them just because they're going to give you free news. It's free. Go sign up. Get free insights, surveys, all kinds of knowledge about what's happening on the policies and not the politics. Independentcenter.org.
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Official sponsor of Write About Now. Chris, you know, do you ever wake up and you're a little groggy? You're like, I mean, it happens. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's like you need a little more pep. Does it happen even to you? I mean, look at you. You're a walking figurine model, but we know it happens to you.
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Yeah.
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It does. Do you want sugar? Do you want fake sugar? Do you want all the bad stuff? I want clean energy, baby. That's what I'm talking about. That's why I reach for the X. X marks the spot. Exponent, drinkexponent.com and drinkexponent on Instagram. Zero sugar, plant-powered. Adaptogens, nootropics, electrolytes, and amino acids all in one can. It's fusion energy, baby. Got the Sector C here.
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I'm just going to tell you, as a business guy, I haven't always agreed with all of these people. And you can call it politics, pandering, whatever you want. I like what it signals for business and for what – and unity on some level. You know, all – The other side and what's been happening the last four years, they painted this picture of unity coming in, but it's been anything but.
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We've got Orange Eclipse right there. Look, the thing I love about this brand, it feels good. I get a little bit of that pep in the step, removes the fog. And ultimately, I don't have the crash. You don't have the crash from the fake sugars, the real sugars, all that stuff. Exponent, official energy drink of Ryan Alford. And right about now, we appreciate them. And you will too.
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Go give them a shout out. Chris, any final words today as we close things out?
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Hey, move your body. Yes. Chris and I do another show, Vibe Science. It's not always complicated, is it, Chris? It's like the simple things. Yeah. Simple things. Water, sleep. Good food. Exactly. So keep it simple, but keep it real. Hey, I appreciate Chris Hansen, my good friend, good contributor to this show. Couldn't do it without him. Go to RyanIsRight.com.
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You'll find highlight clips, links to Chris and I's social media, anything and everything related to the show, the sponsors. Hey, look, this is how this works. We give you free content. Hopefully you enjoy it. A lot of people seem to, but support the sponsors. Go support Chris on Instagram. you know, he's got a reputation to uphold. We need some likes and followers. Come on, man. Kidding.
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Guy's got more attention than he deserves. Nah, he deserves it all. He's the salt of the earth. Just like you are. We appreciate you for making us number one.
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This has been right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
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And as polarizing as I can admit, maybe Donald Trump was at one time or another. I think he learned. And I think he's bringing a lot of powerhouse people together. A lot of people are excited about business. And it's time to get down to brass tacks and make America do business again. Big time. So I love this. I don't know what you think about it.
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Yeah, smart business people that have put aside maybe their differences. I mean, freaking Mark Zuckerberg is going to be hosting a black tie event like Monday night. Bezos and Zuckerberg, their companies, have both pledged a million dollars to Trump's inauguration fund. Again, call it politics, call it pandering, whatever you want to call it. It helps America grow.
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that these people are getting along and you can play the fiddle. Oh, the rich get Richard on that. I'm sorry, but we want it. It don't always work from the bottom up. You know, I know that a lot of people like to Trump that pun intended, but, And I'm just here to tell you that there's a balance in all of this.
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But we need innovative, smart business people being a part of key decisions and removing friction and tension internally. It doesn't mean everybody has to always agree. But we want the smartest minds talking more about policies that help America and America's people rather than infighting. That does nothing. There's no good for anyone.
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Home of the Swamp Rabbit Trail that we're on here at Social House, my company. The best co-working lounge in Greenville. If you're in Greenville, South Carolina, give me a shout out. Just Google Social House. We've got a social lounge and club and hangout and co-work, mixed-use space. It's where our studio is here in the beautiful downtown heart of Greenville, South Carolina.
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It's called let's all get ahead.
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Yeah, I'm liking where this tide's going. We've got to see it in action. So nobody's waving the flag of victory here like that every problem is solved. That's not what we're doing. I'm just saying I like the direction and the unity that I'm seeing from a lot of smart people. That's what it comes down to. A lot of smart people. Done a lot of important things for business. I run multiple businesses.
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I know how hard that shit is. It's hard. You got to be smart. You got to be lucky sometimes. You got to, you know, know how to ride the waves and do all those things. But it takes real chutzpah to manage a budget, manage a company, manage people.
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And people that have done it at the highest level, having say and having influence and having, you know, like we can all, I mean, you can play the victim card all you want. Oh, Rich, I mean, we could do that. But I think the upside here is good for all Americans on the whole, if you choose to see it that way. Country singer Carrie Underwood will perform. You know, NFL.
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She's doing the old Carrie Underwood. She's everywhere. Who ever knew? American Idol. Now she's doing NFL football, singing at the inauguration. And not to be outdone, the village people. Look, hey, all people, baby. We'll do a YMCA. It was a Trump rally staple. They'll be performing at multiple inaugural events. I wonder if they'll play YMCA.
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Yeah. They'll be YMCA-ing it up. That song stood the test of time, I guess.
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Yeah, exactly.
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So, I mean, as related. So, okay. Let's give you some action stuff here. Get in with Crypto Chris. Yeah. Our new name for Chris. Look, I'm a marketing guy. I like to give everybody kind of a name. This one may or may not stick, but we may or may not have a jingle made. But what are the impacts? Okay, Trump's coming off. What's the business impacts? We're going to talk about a few of those.
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I think starting with crypto, I'm officially back on the train. I've been off the train for about four years. You can align that with certain things or not, but more just the reality of not wanting to keep up with it every day and it seemingly kind of fluttering. But the game's back on. Talk to me, Chris, about what you're hearing, what you're seeing.
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I know we've got some headlines related to that, but what's cooking on the crypto front?
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You know, I don't give Greenville enough love. I'm trying to do that a little bit more. It's a great town. Come visit. You know, everyone else does. So we love you. Come on. We'll break some more tourism dollars to the city. It's a beautiful place. Come see the bridge. Come see the green trees, the foliage, and, you know, stop by and see us at Social House. We love our hometown.
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Oh, it does. I'll stop there to just give you a little XRP update.
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They are a loyal bunch, and I'm going to name one. I'm going to give him credit. Callan, he's an amazing, talented, creative guy that was on my team for a number of years. He's independent now. Like all those good guys do. But he told me about XRP. He's one of the fanboys. Oh, my God. He would talk to me for hours about XRP and all this stuff. And look, he had me at hell.
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I was just like, because I was trying to get into it. This is three or four years ago. And so I bought some and sold some, did all that. Made a little coin. But then it's been kind of like everything else with the policies. You know, it kind of been a little flat line. Just kind of like not doing, going up a little, going down a little, all that shit.
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But nonetheless, when I got back in the game, you know, three or four months ago, I... Went heavy with XRP sub a dollar, like 77 cents, 90 cents, somewhere in there. And let's just say I think it crested three bucks a day for the first time or it's gone over. It's pumping. And all, like Chris said, all the metrics, all the stuff behind it is pretty solid. So this is not financial advice.
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Consult your financial advisor, banker, rabbi, priest, whoever you, whoever, your wife, your significant other, your husband, whatever, whoever, whenever. But this is an opinion show. We do share what we do, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, you know.
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if you need to know what not to do with your wife, I can tell you that, but you know, but on the crypto front, XRP is pumping and a shout out to Callan for that advice back in the day. Cause that's why it is. Why can I jump back in? I knew the, you know, a lot of the details behind it and it seems to be validated. Most people in the know think five, 10 plus over the next 12, 12 months.
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So there's my XRP spin. And yeah, You know, it is professional gambling. So only a bet which you can afford to lose. Yeah. Is what I would say. That'd be my advice.
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Yes. And so crypto news, seek your financial advice accordingly. But I would say put in what you can afford to lose. And I think it's definitely safer than college football gambling at this point. For sure. Better return. Because I will say you don't see the complete, like,
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okay a dollar one day zero the next swings yeah i don't i don't see that you definitely see a lot of sense you know it's it's kind of a fun 10 or down 10 within a week you know yeah it's more it's still a little a more volatile and the swings are a lot greater than the stock market But it's more in line with the stock market than it ever has been as far as the percentage of swings.
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What's up, brother? What's cooking this week?
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You just don't see, like, I remember four or five years ago, you'd see 3000% swings in a day. Now today, your biggest gainers might be up 40% or 50%. And I'm not saying that's not significant. That is significant. But it's not 4,000%, like five years ago.
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Ich meine, das waren die Quote von Elon. Und ich möchte wissen, was für ein Problem Sie mit diesen Quoten haben und was Sie versuchen, zu machen. Ich bin nur hier, um die Regierung effizienter zu machen, Waste und Fraud zu eliminieren. Und bis jetzt machen wir eigentlich guten Prozess. Es gab viele gute Audits, die von Inspektor-Generaln und vom Gewerbeverwaltungsamt gemacht wurden.
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Sie wurden einfach nicht implementiert. Nichts wurde gemacht. I think the GAO identified that there were 17 million dead people in the social security database several years ago. It's now 20 million, but we didn't do anything about it.
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No, I think that's probably 100% accurate.
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There's logic in the consistency.
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So,
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Das ist das, was ich nicht verstehe, was die Proteste betrifft. Das ist in dem Taktikbuch der Verurteilten. Wenn ich nicht verurteilen kann oder verurteilen kann, was wir gerade gelesen haben, was der Ziel ist, was du tun willst, wenn ich nicht verurteilen kann über das, was wir gerade gelesen haben, I complain about how you're going about getting that done.
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Because no one would, I think, reasonably argue, you know, like no one would argue with the goal of gaining efficiency with the federal government. If you are, you're just dumb. I think 9 out of 10 people would agree with that. But if I want to be contrarian and I don't like the person that's enacting it, then I bitch about the way they're doing it. This is in the playbook of politics.
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Did you see how old he is?
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It's wild, man. Political... playbook is if i can't gain traction disagreeing with your goal i then gain traction by bitching about the way you get it done and making hay out of that southwest airlines will charge to check bags for the first time
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You notice this, this is probably the biggest, like in scouring the news, this hit my sort of feed, X, Instagram, was people bitching about this checking bag fee for the first time. Launch basic economy tickets. For the first time in 50 plus years, Southwest Airlines will charge for checked bags. Starting May 28th, the airline had previously used free checked bag as a major selling point.
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Elite Frequent Flyers and certain credit card holders will still get one or two free bags. The reason is there's pressure from the investors. They want to sell more seats, make more money, generate more revenue. Higher operational costs and the need to increase revenue. I mean, you know, damn it's a business.
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Es fühlt sich an, als ob man potenziell... Ich bekomme das Geld, es ist etwa 800 Millionen Euro in Einkommen dieses Jahr, 1,7 Millionen, ungefähr 26 Millionen. Das ist viel Geld. Aber was kostet es? Du bist bezeichnet als der Low-Cost-Carrier. Für 50 Jahre. Und du hast es für 50 Jahre gehabt. Du solltest die Forschung haben, um zu zeigen, dass das nicht schaden wird. Das ist alles, was ich sage.
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Ja. Du kannst 1,7 Billionen in Fees machen, aber reduzierst du das andere Niveau, das ist der Verkauf.
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Ja, ich auch. Es ist einfach schmerzhaft, wenn es 5 Uhr dunkel ist. Hoffentlich hat sich jeder damit beschäftigt. Ich habe nicht wirklich ein Problem mit dem 1-Hür-Versuch. Ich fühle mich am Sonntag etwas kürzer, aber es ist wert, die Uhr zu ändern. Und hey, es ist einfach lustig für mich, und ich denke, das ist, warum ich mich verabschiede.
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This was after fair and schedule, bags fly free is cited as the number one issue in terms of why customers choose Southwest. That was July of 2024. That's pretty strong data right there. Yeah, I mean, come on, dude. It says, what's changed is that we've come to realize that we need more revenue to cover our costs.
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Yeah, exactly. Tesla rebounds after Trump defends Musk and brings EVs to the White House. Teslas shares dropped 15% on Monday due to weak sales and uncertainty. By Tuesday afternoon, the stocks had rebounded 5%. after Donald Trump publicly defended Musk, lots of defending, on Truth Social.
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Trump called Musk, calling him a truly great American and accused the radical left of illegally boycotting Tesla. He announced he would buy a Tesla as a show of support. One? How many? I gotta buy more than one. He should have made a cool billion on that, on the freaking sale of But all the coins, the Trump coins. Yeah, the meme coins. Billion dollar Trump currency for crypto.
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Yeah, so anyway, it's the back and forth between Trump and Musk every week and the haters not liking things. Speaking of crypto, Chris, what's happening in the cryptos markets?
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So that's... I didn't see XRP was on that.
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Yeah, I was about to say. I'd be buying that XRP. It's like two bucks. And I feel like, I don't know what the, how big the headroom is. I just feel like it's $10 in a year or two.
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Yeah, Franklin Templeton joins the XRP ETF rush, files preliminary application with the SEC.
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Ich weiß, dass es für Business und Dinge geht, aber dein Mindset verändert sich fast wie meine Produktivität.
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What is the XRP news? What is it right now? We recorded this show a little bit early, so you never know. By the time you're hearing this, it could be up or down 8000 percent. But we're up like 7 percent today. I'm going to go big on a second purchase here. I'm buying the dip, baby. Buy the dip. You got to buy the dip. Don't take a dip, buy the dip. What a nasty habit that is. You got to.
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What else we got today? Some tariffs. Yeah, the tariff news is like, okay, everybody's retaliating. Every day, yeah. Every day. Canada's coming back. We have some guests on our other show talking about the tariff tax and all the stuff that's happening between the countries. And I think everybody's kind of like, okay.
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I do feel like we're sort of getting to this point where Trump is going to have to start to kind of in-game explain. I got it at first, but now we're dipping into this territory where this stuff's really enacting. So let's explain, you know, if there's some strategy, I know you can't give away your entire strategy.
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Deal!
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Ja, weil ich sage das und schau, ich kontrolliere die meiste Zeit, ich bin ein Autist und ich kann kommen und gehen, wie ich will, aber ich fühle manchmal die Druck, dass ich weiß, dass die Frau und die Kinder zu Hause sind, es wird dunkel draußen, es ist Zeit, zu gehen, auch wenn ich nicht unbedingt nichts verpasst habe. versus when it's still bright and sunny, you know, 5.30, 6 o'clock.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
But at a certain point you're going to have to start, if some of this data, some of these things that have nothing to do with him, that are driving financial, and they have to do with him, but you know what I'm saying, like we're enacted. I mean, no inflation number, what, 65 days, 70 days into his presidency is 100% at his feet.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
You know, his policies are not in play enough to both credit or hold against definitive every number yet. Yeah. However, the sentiment he does have to sort of control with America. I agree. And I think he's going to have to start to sort of in-game explain, what do you want... Okay, it's one thing to go, yeah, there'll be a little short-term pain.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
But at a certain point, you're going to have to explain what you anticipate happening and what you expect from your constituents. You know, how much pain, what's the pain tolerance? You know, like I can... I can hold out for some uncle, but at a certain point the hand breaks.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yeah, totally agree. It's just like, all right, give us the play. And Und nicht sogar politisch, nur um sie zu unterstützen, um sie zu unterstützen. Aber gib allen Amerikanern ein bisschen das... Okay, hier ist, was du erwarten kannst. Hier ist, wo wir mit dem gehen. Weil es hat geventuiert.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Und wiederum, als jemand, der generell die Polizisten unterstützt, oder für die Mehrheit die Polizisten von dieser Seite unterstützt, gerade jetzt. I even get a little, like, I'm trying to go down the court and I'm looking for the pass and I'm gonna, oh, but I don't know which way we're going. A little bit. So, we gotta call the play a little bit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
We've said what it is on some level, but it's time to come back around because the last thing you want is the perception that it's throwing a bunch of darts and seeing what sticks. Or that there's not a plan. I don't think that that's what's going on. Because I'm smart enough to know that a lot of smart people are pulling the right strings here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
But I do think we've got to sort of course correct or just course correct the country to know what to expect. Or what the goal is. Because I don't think ultimately Being in a tariff war with every single ally we have is healthy. No. It doesn't feel like it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
I'm not stressing it. I'm getting more shit done. I know I can go home and get a couple things done around the house, you know. And so it's just funny how, and I even noticed it in Greenville, where we are, Greenville, South Carolina, people out more around the office around that time. I'm like, the daylight just keeps people in a different... It's got a real impact, man.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yeah. I'm confident. I'm confident, but I think the first 30 days, some of the benefits were so clear. The messaging was clear. I'm not as clear 30, 60 days later. I agree. I will say the one thing I'm clear on, Chris, and that is the trading card market. I did see a statistic. The trading card market in 2025 is up more than the stock market.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
So, someone's going to message me and say I'm full of shit on that. No, I didn't see a stock or something, an article that was about, you know, as a whole. I'll tell you what, Chris, here's what I know. I go into, you know, now having kids that trade and do stuff, you go to the store, you're looking at the shelves. Those shelves are barren, man. You want to talk about grown men fighting.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Go watch two grown men fight over a pack of Pokemon. That's a funny thing.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
might start a youtube channel on that i'll go into i'll go into walmart and my kids are into the pokemon and i do grab a couple packs here and there but i'm not like hoarding it or like getting you know stealing every box out of the store but i'll go because i'm going there to have a look at football cards baseball cards or something and you know or something else but i'm looking at that because i'm into it now and there'll be dudes like
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Es ist verrückt. Hast du die Leute gesehen? Ich weiß nicht, wo sie Pokémon-Karten verkaufen.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Es gibt Gruppen nach Gruppen nach Gruppen von Pokémon-Fanatikern.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yep. All I know is Topps released their newest football cards. Topps Finest. Little guy here on today. Look how colorful that is, Chris. Can you see that? Send me a pack down here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Hey, these things aren't cheap, man. We need some Miami players. I know. We got this Topps Hobby Box. Topps Finest. Two autographs per box. I'm going to open one pack like I've been doing. On air for the drama. These are fun, Chris. They've got more what they call insert cards than anything. So you've got your favorite players and Refractors and Holograms and Autos and all that.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
So you got to watch the YouTube to get the full effect here. These are just, I mean, I'm impressed as like a marketing guy, like the graphics and all of this stuff. How fun would that be if you're a graphic designer getting to work at like one of the companies and you're like getting to do sports cars, designing that. Joel's agreeing. So, we'll go first top pack, first pack magic here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Top's finest. Appreciate our friends at Top's. Hey, appreciate it even more if they start sending me some stuff. You know, like send some stuff here. Let's see what we got here, Chris. Yeah, me too. This is pretty much a banger box right here. It's supposed to be all hits all day. One of those BBs. Yeah, yeah. We'll see how it goes. Ah, look how beautiful that is. Hinan Ricardo.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Oh, Tim Tebow is in the box. Who knew? You have the throwback. Mike Singletary, Ray Lewis, all these old school players. These are base cards. They do. Now they tell you these are common cards. They just come out and tell you on the card. Oh, we got an auto. First box auto. And it's a player. John Hanahan. Hannah. John Hannah. I don't know who he is, Chris. But it's an auto. Autograph in the box.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
That's a real auto. That's not like just made up, Chris. That's like pen written. Oh, Peyton Manning, the field generals. Who knows? I don't know these cards well enough to know like, oh, that's a number one, Chris. This one's out of 290. Dan Mojahowski, the magic man. Who knows? Peyton Manning. You know who that is, right? Oh, yeah. Kurt Warner. That's an old one. Michael Hall Jr.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
We've got some reflection going on here. It feels like it could be numbered, and that's a common. Okay. Roger Stahlbach. I mean, they throw it in the old school with the new school here, Chris. Are there any hitters in there? Yeah, I don't really know. The players' names aren't ringing a bell, but you've got a numbered card and an auto. That John Hanna strikes me as a...
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Von all den Autographen, die du aus der Box willst, bin ich nicht sicher, dass John Hanna der höchste auf deiner Liste ist. Aber wer weiß. Ja, genau. Wir freuen uns, Tops, für die coolen Karten zu machen. Ich meine, das ist definitiv die, wenn du ein Kunstlover bist, das ist das Set. Wie komplett, wie abstrakt, all kinds of stuff going on. Pretty cards.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
What's interesting to know is like Topps is getting the licensing back. If you look, the helmets don't have the actual symbols on them because they don't have the full license of the teams. The license with the players is strange. All the licensing rules and sports cards. They've got more things you can keep up with. But Topps finest hobby box. Check them out.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
I got at least one more autograph in that box. So I'm hoping it's not another John Hanna. But I'm sure he was a great player in his day. Hey, Chris, any final words here?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yes, it has. Hey, got longer days. Time to make it happen. Get out there. Hey, it's in your hands. We talk about the news. We can talk about all this stuff. We live in the greatest country in the world. Get out there and make it happen. It's all about numero uno. Appreciate you, Chris. We appreciate everybody for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yep. We appreciate everyone for listening. You need to watch it on YouTube. You can see Chris and I were debating pre-show. My pink is purplish. I'm getting ready for Easter, trying to add more color here. Usually white, black is standard, but I've got my... Was nennst du das, Moth? Lavender. Lavender, mein Lavender-Shirt.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Go to ryanisright.com, find the highlight clips, links to all this stuff and all these great sports cards we've pulled out. Hey, a little fun here on the show. It's our show. Do whatever the fuck we want. We'll see you next time. Right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Du kannst nur dieses Lavender sehen, wenn du uns auf YouTube oder auf Spotify schaust. Wir haben also ein Video. Joel, unser Produzent, hat die Kamera gesetzt. Ich habe hier eine neue Kontraption für den Belt. Es ist glänzend und glänzend. Ich habe hier ein neues Lens, Chris. Ich habe eine Kamera, die mir näher ist.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Hey, hey, look. Number one in marketing, number four in all of business today and number 48 in all podcasts in the US. There's over 2 million podcasts in the US and we're number 48. Hey, we can't do it without you listening. So keep listening, reviewing and... Sag es deinen Freunden. Sag es deinen Freunden. Sag es deinen Freunden.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Du musst die Nachrichten halten und all unsere tollen Gäste, die wir haben. Wir haben einige krassere Gäste gestern. Hey, wenn du ein Fan von Business bist und was es kostet, um deine eigene Firma zu starten, und die Ends und Aus, dieses Episode hatten wir diese Woche mit No Bake. Hey, es ging um Cookie Dough, Baby. Cookie Dough. Verstehst du mich?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Ich war so, ich kann über Cookie Dough und Business und all dieses Ding reden. Ich habe ein bisschen Cookie Dough, Chris, gesendet. Das ist lecker. So we appreciate Jimmy from No Bake. He broke it down, literally talked about living in a van down by the river, essentially, to make it through to get to the other side. Him and his wife run the company.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
So if you want to know what it takes to run business today and taking your own, you know, control your own life, making your own bets and all that. Jimmy Sexton, great episode this week, launched on Tuesday. But we've got the business news of this week. And it's hard to like, Chris, these numbers are so staggering. We talk millions and billions all the time. It's a lot of damn money.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
But TikTok ad revenue could top 32 billion if it doesn't lose its biggest market. It's a big if, right? Yeah, exactly.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
If. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
What are the chances of a guy like you and a girl like me getting together? About one in a million. Yeah, yeah. So you're saying there's a chance. Optimistisch wäre der Titel dieses Artikels. Was sagen sie? Hoffnung ist keine Strategie. Also hoffe ich, dass sie es herausfinden. Ich glaube nicht, dass Trump verrückt wird. Ich glaube, er wird ihnen sagen, dass sie verkaufen oder verkaufen.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Make a deal with somebody. I think there's going to be some fireworks as this comes down to the deadline. That or we're going to have a lot of teenyboppers patrolling Washington with signs and petitioning the government.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Du würdest denken, dass Mark das da draußen fliegt. Ja, ja. Ich meine, er hat das Kapital wahrscheinlich zu einer der wenigen Menschen oder wenigen Firmen auf der Welt. Ich meine, was ist mit Apple, Mann? Ich meine, Apple, du weinst mit dem iPhone. Apple kauft TikTok. Ich meine, du sprichst darüber, Google ist ihre größte Kompetenz. In vielen Fällen.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Du sprichst darüber, dass du right to the head of the... Ich weiß nicht, warum du das nicht würdest, weil dann setzt das sie in die Kompetenz mit Prime ein.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Happy March 14th. What's up, everyone? I just started a little different today, Chris. You know, we start the show the same way every time. I feel like I hear myself. So happy March 14th, Friday day. Here are our business news of the week. What's up, Chris? What's up, bro? How you doing? I'm good, man. Just going through these headlines. TikTok doing billions. We got Southwest blowback.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
The streaming, like, user-generated content funnel. Right, right. They don't have that. You know, Apple TV is great. The content is great. Play billions of dollars with really good actors to make really good content. It's, you know, it wouldn't be the craziest thing. No. So, I don't, it doesn't seem very Tim Cook-like. No, not at all. Everything seems safe with him, including his outfits.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Es ist, ich weiß nicht, es gibt keine Innovation.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Ich meine, du weißt. Schau, ich liebe ihre Produkte. Ich habe ihr Handy und sie sind stetig. Und sie sind definitiv in einer maturen Phase der Marke. But man, just surprise and delight me a little bit. I need surprise and delight, Chris. With my electronics and the few things that I take joy in, I need surprise and delight. It's been a long time since Apple's wooed me with a new phone. No.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
You got the debacle that was the headgear, that was... The Metaverse.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
It's so bad now that the innovation is turning it off. People detoxing. Yeah, we're literally like, yo, get me away from this thing. Get me away from my phone for five hours.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yeah, exactly. So anyway, keep your eyes out. This TikTok thing is going to be interesting the next 60 days, I think. Fireworks are coming. It's funny, this is how the news works. They bought like 60, 90 days, something like that. And it goes immediately to the back burner of the news, right? We'll bring that up. That clock's counting though. Das ist von unseren guten Freunden bei Marketing Dive.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Chris hat das gefunden. Ich meine, wie können Brands wie Crocs, Southwest, die Influencer-Marketing, wachsen? Es ist so lustig und interessant auf einigen Ebenen, Chris. Nummer eins, wir wissen, dass die Medien verändern. Wir wissen, wie man Menschen erreichen kann und wie man Influenzen hat.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Du weißt, TV, nur ein TV-Ad, du weißt, zu Audienzen, die es nicht sehen, die es entweder fast forwarden oder es nicht sehen, es funktioniert nicht. Aber es ist auch interessant, dass D-to-C-Branden Influencer-Marketing seit fünf, sechs, sieben Jahren zerstören. Jetzt sind die großen Branden so, oh ja, wir müssen die Leute mit diesem Influencer-Spiel erreichen. Das ist so, wie du Influencer hast.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Das ist so, wie du Skala bekommst. Du musst echte Leute aktivieren, die User-generierte Inhalte machen. Oder, hey, go figure, shameless plug, get on podcasts. That's another form of user-generated content by non-celebrities. I mean, Chris and I are celebrities now in our own minds, but we weren't. But in all seriousness, this is new media.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Es ist nicht, ich meine, du nennst es Influencer-Marketing, gut, aber es ist nur neues Medien. Es ist nur neues Medien, genau, ja. Und das ist der Inhalt, den die Leute konsumieren. Das ist, was sie beeinflusst. Und es gibt den Niveau der Authentizität, der mit Influencern kommt, die richtigen. Und das ist, wie man Leute erreicht.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
It's still media, it's still content. It was content 30 years ago when we were watching Leave it to Beaver or whatever that was. The Andy Griffith Show, you had ads running on the TV or you had radio spots. And some of this media is not gone forever, but I'd even argue, you know, radio is being replaced in a lot of ways by streaming and podcasting.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Because people are listening to podcasts in the car, then they're watching it on their TV that they've, you know, put up on the screen from, you know, casting from YouTube or whatever. This is just how media is evolving. And this is how you got to reach the audience. And these are like, individual influencers are like different TV stations.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
We've got Trump and Elon stirring it up with tariffs and who knows what else. And hey, inflation is not as bad as we thought. So now we see the damn stock market to get going and we'll get rolling. Those are some of the headlines we'll be talking about today. How says you, Christopher?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Yeah, you do. Some of those rates are getting up there pretty high, but it's not as high as Tom Cruise or, you know, Rosie O'Donnell. No. She might be affordable now, but she's doing music videos. Did you see that Tom McDonald music video that Rosie O'Donnell did? Yeah, that's wild. It's wild. I called my friend. Yeah, Dreads. That guy's a master marker himself. Yeah, he is.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
No matter what his messages are. Which some of them I probably agree with. And then some of them, like, alright, we're a little far out there, buddy. But anyway, Executive South by Southwest. South by Southwest is going on today. Another conference that I haven't attended in 10 years. And I feel like, you know, some part of me, like, wants to be there. And then part of me is like, I don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Like, I'll Es gibt viele influentiale Leute dort, mit denen ich mit den Schultern schlafen und mit denen ich Abendessen trinken mag und diese persönliche Verbindung habe. Das interessiere ich. Aber in der Liste der Dinge, die man tun muss, Chris, und die Unternehmen, die man runten muss, ist es schwer, Zeit für das zu finden. Yeah, you gotta prioritize.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
So, hope everyone's having fun in Austin, getting drunk. You're, you know, what time is it? Yeah, it's like we're recording this middle of the day. You're a little hungover at your next, at your third session right now. You're wanting an afternoon beer. It's too early, but you might get one at lunch, cocktail at lunch at the iHeartRadio tent in Oh, those were the days. Those were the days.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
So, hey, you need to get into new media. Influencers, people, and podcasting. If you want to learn more about podcasting, go to theradcastnetwork.com. Chris, we're up to 30 shows, dude. 30 shows and counting. We've added 22 shows this year. That's a lot. It's in March. So, if you want to learn more about joining the Radcast Network, growing your show, go to the Radcast Network dot com.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Helping people do what you should do. Generate great content, make money doing it and grow. Elon Musk believes Doge will reach the goal of a trillion dollars in savings. Yeah, we've talked about this week after week and. I feel like he's been the punching bag of late. I mean, no one likes their jobs being taken and the perception that getting into I don't know, security issues and all that shit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
I think that's sort of the excuse for how we can hate on... Look, why does everybody gotta have something to protest? Is it just our nature? Is it just what we are? Gotta hate this side, gotta hate that side, gotta hate this. I admit that sometimes it's easy to sort of... Certain actions are just... are lightning rods. But this sometimes just feels like I gotta protest something, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News Roundup: Tiktok $32b Revenue - Tariffs - Doge Goal
Sie wollen ihre Verteidigungsrechte verwenden und das ist völlig in Ordnung, aber... Weil, ich meine, hast du nicht gesagt, dass die Leute in Miami, wie mit verschiedenen Zeichen, es ist wie, was für eine Rallye sind wir?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Like, if we had inflation increases in January, it had nothing, very little, minuscule amounts to do with the new administration.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I don't know if that Gillian, Gillian teen. I don't know. What do you call it? Dude, dude time.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Exactly. So I think we've got to be patient a little bit, and I think you nailed it with the current administration. Whoever was in office would be going, this is at the table. I think the bigger challenge in the same article that's going to come to a head, Chris, is the interest rate things. They're not going to want to lower them with inflation where it's at.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Trump's belief, along with mine, I've shared it before, way before it had anything to do with Trump being in office, which is, the interest rates and mortgages and refinances get this ball rolling. And I recognize the inflation thing and people smarter than me, you know, do some of these things, but we got to be careful with not bringing, continuing to bring that down if at all possible.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I don't know if you agree.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah. I like that cruise ship analogy because dude, I don't like to cruise. I've, but the last, when you go on them though, The motion is so subtle, though. It's like you go to sleep, you're in the middle of nowhere, and you wake up and you're in a beautiful Caribbean spot. You don't feel the rock. And you don't feel the moves or the waves and all that. But it's happening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah. Bro time. I don't know. Who knows, but yeah, Anyway, it's a day of love. We do love you for choosing us. We know you have choices, so we appreciate you wherever you are, whenever you are, however you're listening in our business news here of the week on February 14. Lots happening. We got two. Oh, you had so much happening. We had our boy David on yesterday.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
You're getting to a destination. And it could be the Caribbean and blue water. It could be, you know, Titanic. Hopefully not. Dramatic. I mean – I'm just saying. There's icebergs out there, man.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I'm just saying, not as dramatic of an outcome of people dying. I'm just saying, like, you know, there's icebergs everywhere, and you don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yep.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
But you got Trump saying one thing. You got the Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell saying, we do not need to be in a hurry.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I'm going to say something, and I'm probably going to regret it, because somebody's going to DM me that's probably smarter than me in all this, or just thinks they are. Inflation hurts the most when you don't have the money to pay it. So if we get the ball spinning, is the inflation felt less even if it sort of continues a bit? I know you can't outrun that thing, but you know what I'm saying?
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
If Americans have, you get the interest rates lower, get more money in the market, you get more money in everybody's pockets, theoretically. I'm not saying you can't worry about inflation. I'm not insinuating that, but it just seems contrary to go the other direction. I don't know. Know what I'm saying, Chris?
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
If you got $5 eggs, but the interest rates are low, and you got more money in your checkbook, you know, it's like, again, someone smarter than me is going to go, well, you can't outrun that rate or whatever. But I'm not saying we don't need to get the cost of things down.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah. But the wages aren't going to catch up if money's not in the market. The interest rate money of refinancing and just the, I don't know, the swell of all that. Smarter people than me. I'm sure Jerome Powell, other than just being Jerome, is smarter than me. What you doing, Jerome? Anyway, Super Bowl. 59 attracts a record 127.7 million viewers. That's a lot of damn viewers. Record viewership.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Super Bowl 59 attracted a historic 127.7 million viewers as per Nielsen, making it the most watched and streamed Super Bowl to date or ever. Broadcast and streaming the game aired on Fox's broadcast network, Spanish language, Fox Deportes and NBC Universal's Telemundo. It was also available on Tubi and the NFL's digital platforms.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I mean, look, so many things happened. We had to have two news episodes. You're going to see more of that, two to three a week, when we can fit them in long-term. That's the plan. So, David Caldwell, appreciate him. Business mentor, ex-NFL, and just one hell of a good guy, ultimately, right? Solid. Solid as it comes. Yep. Might be your date tonight. I don't know.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Fox reported over $800 million in advertising revenue across all platforms with individual spots costing up to $8 million. We talked about that a couple weeks ago. Oh, nice little day there. 800 mil. Insane, bro. A lot of money. Live sports, man. Still there. Sports. People want to watch the live sports. Leather linear TV, not so great.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Terrible, you know, streaming's where it's at, but it's live sports, Super Bowl. And that's where, you know, we had a debate on, I had a debate on LinkedIn with some people about advertising. I'm like, eh. You know, people say, oh, I'd buy a million dollars in Facebook ads. That's not the same. And it depends on what you're trying to do. I'm not suggesting that everyone makes sense.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
But you actually have people paying attention to the ads, which is unique. And so, anyway, I thought the ads sucked, though. I mean, this might have been an episode that just talked about Super Bowl ads. But, you know, quite frankly, and I had a few people. Most people agreed and some people. But there was like three or four that were memorable. And there was a lot of turds, if you ask me.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
A lot of people trying to be creative and working too hard, but not, it's like, what the hell is incoherent? Like, it wasn't even funny. I was like, what is this? Did you watch much of the Super Bowl? I didn't watch any of the Super Bowl. Dude, you're the non-sportsiest guy I know.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
It's so funny. The people that are in it, and it's a lot, 127 mil. might want to hold on to that one, but half the country. Yeah. But you're either in it or you're not. It's like, if you're not, it's just another, it's just all right. Yeah. And I know that's the kind of no shit statement, but it's like, it seems like it's all or nothing.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
But if you rewind last week's episode, I did open a pack of cards, and there was a certain player on the front of it. And anyone that wanted to listen, I said the Eagles will win by two touchdowns. And Saquon Barkley was the first card pulled. I said, this might be an omen. And they did win. I mean, it was a royal beatdown. I mean, a beatdown. You should maybe start sports betting, Brian.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
No, absolutely not. I am opening our good friends at Panini, Don Russ – Because let's just see. Maybe we'll use this pack to predict next year's winner. Who's on the front? Oh, wow. Super Bowl winner right now. Wow. And this is who I'd probably pick. Who would you most likely pick right now after the most recent Super Bowl? The Eagles. Darius Slay. Eagles on the front again. Oh, my gosh.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I'm telling you. Go ahead and put your money in. Guaranteed. Not really. This is just, you know, we're an opinion show. This is not betting advice. However, Darius Slade Jr. right on the front. Eagles. Let's see if there's any other tail signs here in these packs. These are Donruss Football Cars 2024. Devontae Adams, Justin Herbert. And look, oh, the special card in the pack, Chris.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
This is meant to be. I'm putting 5Gs on it today. Super Bowl next year. Will Shipley, he went to Clemson and he's on the Eagles and he is the special rookie card in the pack. Are you kidding me? I can't make this stuff up. The Eagles are definitely winning. I'm putting five G's on it today. Maybe. Well, I'm just telling you there, you got to admit that's a little random, right?
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Oh, no, it was before.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Julius Peppers? Is that another Eagles? No. Oh. Terry Arnold plays for Detroit. So Detroit. Detroit. If you go by the rookies in the pack, and this could totally make – well, Detroit's NFC. Can't beat Detroit in Philly in the Super Bowl, but they could beat the AFC championship. Andre Reid, Anthony Munoz, old school guys.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
See, there it is.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
But the tell here is the main two people out of the pack are Eagles and the special rookie card. because my boy Will Shipley had some great returns in the playoffs. And I'm telling you, it's meant to be. Eagles next year. Appreciate it. Panini, Donruss, for the packs of O cards. Super Bowl is just huge. Huge numbers all the way around. I want to move on to the last article of the day.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Ooh. Yeah. You don't or you do?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Tom Brady buys ownership stake in the sports card collectibles company. It's perfect timing, right? We go from one another. This is all aligning perfectly with my new passions. Tom Brady's new venture. New adventure and venture. Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady has accepted a 50% stake in Card Vault, a sports card and memorabilia retailer. This comes to us from our friends at CNBC.com.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Rebranding and expansion. The company will be renamed Card Vault by Tom Brady. Plans include rapid expansion of sports hubs and a flagship store at the American Dream Mall. Card collecting has seen a significant revival since the pandemic with record-breaking sales fueling growth in the industry. Hey, we're telling you this, people. You think I'm just being into something that I'm into.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
A lot of people are into this shit and making a lot of money. And it's fun. So... This is cool. I did go online, though, Card Vault. Your prices were a little high. Nonetheless, Tom, get this price down. FYI, guys. Oh, the upcoming flagship store at the American Dream Mall. That's a pretty cool mall. You ever been to that? No. It's huge. It's crazy. I would love to go.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah. Get some Sbarro's pizza. New York's finest. Yeah. Orange chicken in the food court. Yeah. Orange chicken, Sbarro's and, you know, like some generic Chick-fil-A or a little Panda Express. Oh, hey, I like what you did. Hey, no, I want to get a. One of those Auntie Anne's. You know what I'm talking about? Pretzel?
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Oh, yeah. We're making you hungry now.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
You smell that dough and cinnamon. Oh, it's like heaven.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
It's like the two best bites you ever have. And then from there on, it's like, I'm not sitting so well. Yeah.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah. It was the orange chicken mixed with the Auntie Anne's.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Here's Tom Brady's vision. This isn't just about buying and selling cars. It's about curating history, building community, turning fans into collectors, and giving them access to own great moments in history. You think Brady really said that? Or is that his PR guy?
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
It's very HR sounding. It is. Sounds like that was a – that sounds like – I'm calling AI or your PR director. And he – I'm sure they texted to him, hey, you good with this quote? Yeah, good with it.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah, exactly.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
It does.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yes. Curating history, building community. It's like the buzzwords. Yeah, curating history, building community, turning fans into collectors, and giving them access to own great moments in sports. I mean, that could be a commercial right there. I think that's their new commercial. Cardvault.com. Yeah, I mean, couldn't that be the tagline right there? It's not just about buying and selling cards.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
It's about curating history. It's about building community, turning fans into collectors, collectors into dreamers, dreamers into the next card superstar. Welcome to Card Vault.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
i added a little bit there give him a shout for effect hey you can hire me for that give you voiceover or free lines whatever you need you would love that it will not oh god be awesome i would totally do that and i won't make it i don't need to have gtb it's a theater of my mind uh it card business is huge business it's uh
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Don't sell it. I might buy it from you. I'll sell the card shop for like 60%. I might give you less than that. Okay. Sort of. Oh, we appreciate everyone. Last bit of news. Beer industry is in decline as craft breweries face higher costs. I think people are drinking less, man. I'm drinking less. People are drinking less. I think it's just less is more.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
They are some of them, I think less of the bad stuff. And, or maybe, I don't know, you're getting some great alcohol and you drink less. Yeah. Like 12%. Exactly. Yeah. You're not going to be shot. Yeah, exactly. We appreciate you. We love you. It's happy Valentine's day out there, folks. Give, you know, give, give, give your loved ones a hug, you know, hug, hug, hug, love one day. Show the love.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Hey, you know how you can show the love? Tell a friend about the show. You know, that's what makes us go around. Share what Ryan and Chris are doing here, multiple shows, this show, Vibe Science. We'd appreciate it.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
We make you smile. We make you laugh. We help you learn all around. Give them a free subscription. Just sign the link and they can subscribe for free on YouTube. Subscribe for free. It's free. That's your Valentine's gift. Honey, I got you this subscription to the Right About Now YouTube channel. You just click right there. That's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year long.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
We appreciate it. Go check out that YouTube channel. We got to get those numbers up. We're like at 15,000, 20,000 subs. Let's get it up, people. Love. We love you. Chris, any final words? Be kind. Be kind to people. Show love today. Yeah. Show love every day. I love you. We appreciate you. Go to RyanIsRight.com. Find highlight clips. Link to all our sponsors. We love them the most. Exponent.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Branded Bills. Independence Center. Go support them. We've got links there. Couldn't do it without them. We can't do it without you. That's how this works. See you next time on Write About Now.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Like Taylor Swift to the Super Bowl. Yeah, but hopefully it's. I did want to talk about, from a business perspective, Valentine's Day is big business. You know, hearts and love and all that stuff. We're going to talk about the economic. Valentine's Day 2025 will create an economic impact in communities across the country. Here's some numbers. They're staggering, Chris. Staggering.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Hello and welcome to Right About Now. It's Friday, February 14th, 2025. Happy Valentine's Day. Everyone out there, we love you. And hopefully you love us back. If you don't, then just pretend. You know, isn't that what makes the relationships go around? Faking it till you make it. Yeah, acting as if. Acting as if. I'm Ryan Alford, your host.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
So, here it is for everyone out there. Sit down if you aren't already. The National Retail Federation estimates that 56% of consumers plan to celebrate Valentine's Day. Hey, good for you. Good for you. So, we like that. We want to celebrate the love. And with an estimated $27.5 billion spent on the holiday in the U.S. alone, That's about $188 a household.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
So what's popular this year for Valentine's Day? We're going to go down that path. We really prayed the uschamber.com for this stats, by the way. uschamber.com. Good partner and friend of right about now. We like chambers. Chris likes those torture chambers. So here we go. Flowers. The Society of American Florists reports 250 million roses alone are prepared by U.S. florists. 250 mil.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
That's a lot of roses, man. How many bushes is that? Dude. Where are they coming from? Where are they coming from? Where are these roses? Farms, that is. There's people that their whole living is made on roses. Like, that's all they do. They farm them all year. Fascinating. It's all about love. They're part of a wonderful time in people's lives. We need to get one of them on the show.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah, we should. The rose farmer. Rose farmer. You know, every rose has its thorns. They can talk about the thorns and the not. And I will promise not to ever sing it again. Chocolate and candy. Sweets are the most popular gifts with 56% of Americans planning to purchase candy. All right. Proposals.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
WalletHub's 2025 Valentine's Day survey notes that 6 million marriage proposals are made on February 14th each year, and 36% of Americans agree that proposing on Valentine's Day is romantic. I was going to say cringy, but okay. Wait, 36% is romantic? The Guyentines Day here edition.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Love to love. They do love to love them. Don't forget pets. Valentine's Day isn't just a time to shower your classmates, significant other, or family with gifts. Capital One Shopping reports that pet owners spent $1.5 billion.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
on valentine's day's gifts for their pets last year 31.24 31.24 for dogs and 27.42 for cats on average attracts less people having kids more people treating their animals like you know the most disappointing fact of all of that is how close the number is for the cats is to the dogs. I mean, that's just bullshit.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
They do, but the cats don't earn it as much. They don't earn it. Let's be honest. The dogs should get twice as much. You know, like, they're twice... Four times as better. Four times as... That's my grammar for the day. Four times better, and they get only, I don't know, 5% less money spent on them. Oh, man. I'm going to have to really fight that.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I'm here in G Vegas, also known as Greenville, South Carolina, in the lovely social house on the Swamp Rabbit Trail downtown. Come by and see us anytime. My coworker, Alan, just the coolest spot in Greenville. Another cool spot is where my buddy Chris Hansen is down in Miami. What's up, Chris? What's up, Ryan? How you doing, Doug? I'm good, man. I got my noisemaker.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I know that. Storm's hearing every word you're saying, and I'm going to have to come rescue him if you talk about cats anymore.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Local restaurants step up on Cupid's big day. Dining out on Valentine's Day represents a large portion of consumer spending, positively impacting workers and businesses through more tips and bigger overall dining checks. Yes. I can attest to that. According to survey data from Toast...
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Valentine's Day was big business for restaurants last year, even though the holiday fell in the middle of the week. Overall transactions were up 41% at full-service restaurants for that same day. Takeout sales were up 46%. Diners were out later with the busiest time being 7 p.m.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
The same survey listed steak, seafood, sushi, and pasta as top food items on Valentine's Day compared with a typical Wednesday at a full-service restaurant. Since Valentine's Day is a great time for establishments to offer their customers specials, including gift cards, perks, and cross-business promotions. So if you aren't doing that, you're listening early in the day. You need to get on that.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
But a Friday night, man. Friday night, Valentine's Day. You know how hard it is probably to get in. You can't get in anywhere on Friday night anyway.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Super romantic and different. Waffle House on Valentine's Day.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
You know, bring a shape that they could do like a heart-shaped waffle or something. Definitely they could do that. And see if they'll let you bring in like some champagne or something. A little mimosa. I don't know if they'll do that, but maybe just sneak it in. I mean, I'm all full of ideas here. There's every woman that listens to this show just unsubscribed.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
They're like, I ain't going to no Waffle House. And they might not want their boyfriend listening either after that. I know. I'm just saying, here's where the idea is not to be cheap. The idea is actually more thoughtful. It's unique. It's probably one of the only places that you might could slip in on a Friday night on Valentine's Day. And you know what?
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
The company makes the date, not where you go.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah, God bless her. It's very true. It is very true.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Exactly.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Agreed.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah, exactly. Chris is single. Hey, ask Chris out. Still got time. We record this a day early, so you got time. DM Chris. You'll be hearing it Friday morning, hopefully, our loyal listeners playing it first thing on this road mill or wherever you are. But yeah, get out there. Make it happen. I still go back to right where we started there. A big $27.5 billion.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
We throw a lot of numbers around a lot. That's a lot of money, man. Yeah. I was surprised by the $188 per household. I mean, that candy for your kids is just not, you know, take those Valentines to school.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
That's why you got to go to Waffle House, man. You know, Waffle House. It's not fast food. You know, you get, it's home cooked right there. It's made to order. Made to order. Go to a breakfast place. Breakfast for dinner. Go to IHOP or Denny's. Hey, it could be a little breakfast. And take a little thermos with mimosas or something. Make it romantic. Take your roses in there.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
That will come into effect here shortly. It's red, too, for Valentine's Day. You know, will you be mine, Chris, my friend? Maybe today. Just today. We hope everyone's, you know, getting hit by Cupid and nothing nefarious out there with hearts and dinners and lovely events and Galentine's day was wonderful for you. We need a men, men in times day or something. Yeah. Guy in times day.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
And, you know, make it happen. Just just some terrible ideas for me. Just just not because I think they're actually bad ideas, but because I do know and have been married twice and very happily married the second time that I know better that that doesn't that shit don't fly.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
And I would, I'd go overboard. I'd get the heart shape thing and go in there like pre and talk to the Walthouse. Be like, can y'all make this? Can you slip them a hundo or something? And be like, come on, make me a heart shape. You would do it up. Right. Do it up real nice. Real nice. Just for you. Oh, I'm glad. I hope everyone enjoyed the Valentine's Day economic special here.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Now moving on to the other news, other regularly scheduled programming here. China launches limited tariffs after Trump imposes sweeping new levies. We've got levies and tariffs and, you know, levies are broken. It says new U.S. tariffs on China. Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports. China responded with targeted tariffs on $20 billion worth of U.S. imports.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
China seeks to avoid escalation and aims for negotiations. I mean, that's what needs to happen. We're in a world economy now. I'm not defending China. Believe me. No, we already went on that escapade last week with TikTok. I'm just saying. But at the same time, let's just get to the negotiation table, right?
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
Yeah. So I thought this had all sort of been, you know, started to get there, but it sounds like it's still waffling back and forth a bit with threats and stuff like that. But I will say one thing that's unfortunately still waffling, which is inflation. And here's, I want to table this a little bit. You know, I, We try to tell all sides here.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
I mean, you probably know where my beliefs and a lot of my policy leanings are, but they're not political leanings. They're policy leanings. And I'll say this. I would say this no matter who was the president. I really would. It's February. We've been in office for 30 days, give or take. Everyone should know this. Nothing a president does or enacts is, you know, you can enact things.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
And I love the actions that are taking place in this administration. But the impact, the outcomes of these enactments and policies, they don't happen in 30 days. Right. So I just think we've got to be careful with both positive and negative news not to weigh it too much. I much like what we talked about earlier this week, the activity going on. Oh, I like it a lot.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
But the impact of that positive or negative is not taking place. And when looking at inflation, which worsened in January with prices for groceries and gasoline higher, I don't lay at the feet of the new administration. And this particular article wasn't necessarily going there, but it had a hint of it. And it's like, no matter what side it is, I'd be going one month, 30 days in.
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Love and Money: Unpacking the Valentine's Day Spending Phenomenon Plus Super Bowl Super Ratings
They haven't caused more inflation. Now, Donald Trump's come out and said, there could be short-term pain with some of the things he's doing and getting people to the negotiation table. So I respect him for saying that. But even him saying that doesn't mean it's actually here yet. I mean, agree, Chris?
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Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I ain't too proud to use a coupon. I'm not pulling out a 50 cent coupon. This was $4 off. But $4, $3, $4 off? I'll put that in my pocket. Yeah. You know, here's what will happen. I'm not too proud to use it. fucking forget it every time. I go, oh, dang it. I walk out of the store or get home, like, and I dig in my pocket or whatever I did with it. That's how they get you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
You know, if not in the habit of like, I don't have the, man, remember that woman that'd be in line at the shopping store that'd bring out the wallet? You know, like that thick.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And you know, I was probably, I haven't seen that in a long time, but I would probably, I didn't make fun of that. I was more annoyed because like, I was like, oh God, we got to wait on her to use her coupons. Well, I didn't, it was not judging. It was more just like, we all want to get through the line as fast as possible. Yeah, that's going to be me.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
It adds up. So whatever brings grocery store costs down lower, I will vote for that side of it. We'll just keep it that simple.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Hopefully it gets easier in 2025. We'll see. If it will, if the Independence Center has anything to do with it, go check out our partner, independencecenter.org. Again, it's not about the right. It's not about the left. It's not like blue. It's not about red, all that shit. None of that matters. Here's what matters. All that matters is that policy impacts your pocketbook in a positive way.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And they're helping bring studies, surveys, voter data that kind of remove all the party bullshit and bring it to the people, which is what we need. Go to IndependentCenter.org, sign up for that newsletter. You'll be thankful that you did. And let's get the politics out of the way. Let's get the policies at the forefront. What's next?
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So please go to your financial advisor for risk counsel, risk tolerance, and how much you can afford to lose. So that's not for me to determine. I just want you to have a little fun with me testing the market. Brianna had something to say there. I'm not sure what.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Wow.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Jeez. I mean, in one way, I'm like, why is it worth so much? And then another way I get it, because space is sort of the next frontier and where a lot of money is spent and a lot of security with US. I don't get it. I mean, I think it's back to a lot of the technology, the propulsion, rocket propulsion, all that stuff.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I think the, I don't know, patents and everything that goes into whatever it takes. And the fact that I don't know. Maybe we are going to colonize somewhere one day. And it's hard to know the economics, though, of why it's so valuable. Like, where is their revenue made? That's past my pay grade. I think it's contracts with the government.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And the fact that the government and NASA are pretty much relying on SpaceX now in a lot of ways. And you got to also remember being one trip up, baby's like 10 million, you know, it costs a lot of money to bring all that together. And all the fuel and everything else that gets – I mean, you talk about up in smoke, like, jokingly.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
But, like, is there anything more up in smoke than a rocket ship taking off? It's just like – and it's all the money that's spent making that happen. But what we don't realize is all the satellites, all the stuff that keeps us secure. There's a lot of stuff that happens in space that we're probably a little –
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
myself certainly included ignorant to keep us protected and control some of our military stuff. So I can't totally get my head around what makes it worth 300 billion or whatever, but it's crazy.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, they might be the ones hitting all these crazy drones everywhere. That stuff's crazy. Understanding how the most developed country in the world has things flying around that we don't know who and what it is. I, yeah, come on now. Like we got all this technology. You can't, and we can't shoot those. I mean, I know it's illegal, like shoot a drone down.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I think obviously, I think it is airspace. You can't, you're not like for a, for me or you to shoot a drone down. I think it's illegal. But the government can shoot one of those things, like get out there and shoot it down and take it apart and figure out where it came from.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, it's crazy. And they're all over it. And I read an article like right before we came in. I debated bringing it up, but we kind of were talking about spaceships and satellites and all that stuff. So it read, they assume now that it's adversarial. I'm like, great.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah. Well, you never know or when how it's all about. Hey, you cannot make any shots you don't take. So there you have it. I have been putting in. A couple thousand dollars every week or two, just taking from other investments, doing it, and like taking, you know, moving over to the crypto. Now that we have a crypto-friendly president coming into office. And I am not the expert.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I feel like we never got all the answers on that balloon either, other than it was China and got shot down. And somehow it was drifting over here. A weather balloon.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
See? I told you.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Because you know why I know? I got my shotgun out to shoot one out that was over our house a couple weeks ago. It was because we had a huge parade here in Greenville. And there was one that was just hovering over our house because we're right downtown. Yeah. And it was bothering me being in my sort of airspace over my house.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I was going to shoot it. And my wife quickly corrected me and said, you know, it's illegal to shoot a drone now. I'm like, you're kidding, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
But I guess, I mean, I don't own the air. So that would be the argument. But I'm like, well, shit. What keeps some weirdos from just flying your drones right up in your shit? You know, like.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
If I had a property out somewhere, let's just say my wife wouldn't stop me. If I didn't live in downtown Greenville, let's just say that drone would have seen about a thousand pieces. I would have been like, kids, you got a gift for Christmas. It's called a jigsaw puzzle. It's 1,500 pieces. Oh, look, it's a DJI drone. You just got to put it back together.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, that's like flying out of the top of my house, like sitting like 30 feet up, and I'm like – I knew he wasn't, like, could care less about anything we were doing. And we were doing nothing but sitting inside watching TV. But I heard it. And then.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I might have been. But, you know, I gave him a little show. I was naked when I had the shotgun out.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I'm kidding. Sort of. But no.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, I know. Shotgun. Are you kidding? Hey, I'm like 25 pounds around here. I got a one pack. Come on now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Oh, gosh.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
But yeah, that drone stuff in New Jersey, does it not blow your mind that we don't know what that is or who's causing it?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
You're the FBI. You're supposed to know. Like, come on, man. It's going to sit flying around. Oh, me. But luckily, Elon, back to the whole article, is worth $400 billion. Congratulations. I was worrying about where his next billion was going to come from. And good for him, man. It's a lot of fucking money.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, one bill. One bill, you'd be all right. Yeah, right? Yeah. A hundred million. A thousand million is what a billion is.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, he wouldn't even notice. A million here, a million there. A lot of money. This shows you that's how much money there is to be made. That's why this Kraken app is going to do it. We're going to a billion, baby.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Oh, yes, we do. Radical.com. But you know what? Do you know how we're able to do it? Because we stay energized. You know how we stay energized? Yes. X marks the spot. Yes, exponent. Hey, this isn't energy. This is fusion energy. You notice we're talking rocket ships, we're talking nuclear power, and we're talking fusion energy.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Zero sugar, plant-powered, adaptogens, nootropics, electrolytes, all the stuff you want, none of the stuff you don't. X marks the spot, exponent. This is the Sector C. They got all the coolest names. Sector C here. We got Eclipse. Everyone's favorite is the blue ones. At the office, it's like blue raspberry or something. This is lemon, lime, and orange. We try those new flavors on air.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I'm ready for this. Sarge and I were talking the other day. We're ready for those new flavors to come out. Strawberry, lemon, stuff, whatever. All kinds of new stuff. It can't be giving away trade secrets. But all kinds of flavors coming out. And, again, the best part is – and I've been bad about this. I drink a lot of energy drinks. I just don't like coffee really.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Chris, who is on Escapade in Houston, is more of the, quote, expert in-house. But, you know, you can learn a lot. So I'm on the Kraken app. The names of this stuff doesn't help with some of their legitimacy sometimes. Like, I'm on that Kraken. It starts with a K. So I'll give them some free support. Maybe they should be a sponsor. That would be a good one for Natalie to reach out to.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And so got to get that pep, but you need it to be healthy. Don't need all the bad stuff. Got to stop. I got to wake up and read the labels. My good friend, Jim Smiley tells me that, you know, you got to do that. So you read the labels and you go to exponent drink exponent.com as well as on Instagram. Go give them some love. And look, I only promote the products that I like and that I actually use.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And there's no bigger user of energy drinks than this guy. So where do you think all this energy comes from?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Was there some vodka in it?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Was there some vodka in it? What's your point? Yes. Well, that's the final article today.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, I think that's what it is, right? Or it's the YouTube nation, right? You're watching everything. You're not reading anything.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
That's right. You've got to look that up. You've got to see all the shows on our network. But I will say... My wife would probably – her school, like, ranks, like, one of the top 10 or 20 in the whole state. So she would call that out while also going, this doesn't surprise her, I'm sure, with just – it's sad, though. Yeah.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Like, what – why is it – it makes you want to know what are the underlying reasons for this. Is it because of some variable? Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, it said when asked about potential causes for the decline, Carr stated that it's difficult to say. Pun intended. He didn't have the answer. He couldn't read it out loud. Oh, sorry. That's the worst quote. I know. It's like I read that. I had to double take. Even when I said it out loud, I was like, is this a joke? Did he say pun intended after it? What's the reason for the decline?
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
You'll read about it later. I couldn't read the report. Oh, geez. Who knows? I do think unrelated related. Reform in exactly how and what we learn that better match the world we live in today is something I could get behind. I have had this discussion with my wife, and it's not because I feel like what she does and what teachers and administrators are doing every day is not highly important.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I just think there could be a better alignment to what are the skills and learning that you need in the classroom. I think it's somewhat related to this. I mean, literacy and understanding the language, though, is a little different than what I'm suggesting, but it might go hand in hand in some ways because – We evolve and maybe we need to teach it differently. I don't know.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
That's past my pay grade on how to teach it. I just think what we learn, though, needs to evolve with where AI and all the other things that are happening are taking us so that we are productive.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Get the Kraken in here. Anyway, I'm on there. Very easy to buy and sell. They make it super easy to take your money. Let me tell you. So one click away, your bank account, you know, whatever. You got your wallet going on. And again, much better than college football lately. So I quit bidding on college football probably 10 years ago. So this is not a recent thing.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yes. Agreed. Oh, lastly, I want to say today, you know, it's the biggest news story in the U.S. has been the shooting and killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. And that story is so, you know, we do one time a week. When we move to more, you know, multiple day news story, we'll probably cover more of that. There's definitely an impact business-wide, culturally.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
You know, everything becomes political today, including stuff like that. But the reality is that story is kind of unfolding so moment by moment. I don't want to come on here when we record this and it's not live and news already be out because it seems to be a very developing story. But my own thoughts are just –
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Some of the language and the reactions from certain news people and certain people about like in some way, like thinking this is OK because they, you know, the health care system is broken and like all these things that taking another person's life and not. Honoring that in some way is just despicable behavior and unacceptable.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And I think this guy's – if this guy that's Luigi, whoever, that got apprehended ends up being the one, he's clearly lost his screw somewhere because nothing has made sense from what I've seen coming out on his background. But as a society, to in any way –
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
not acknowledge the crime when someone gets gunned down on the street and the severe, like just the humanity, lack of humanity in that act is just unforgivable.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yes. Thoughts with his family and, you know, with the authorities that are trying to get this handled in the right way and to learn what we need to learn. But again, some things, there'll be things unfolded by the time this episode even goes live.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So I don't want to pretend, you know, that we have the latest, the greatest, other than it's unacceptable and a true bad moment for us when people are getting gut. I mean, CEOs of companies are going down in the street. I mean, we're a civilized nation. And I know crimes happen every day. But this is unacceptable. It needs to be handled swiftly in the right way. So we'll see where it goes.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
But I will say it's riding the wave. And it's been an interesting week with crypto because I'm riding it. I probably have like 20 coins that I'm in now or different crypto, whatever. There's a lot of terminology again here. So I've been buying them. XRP, that's what you need to get on. Let me go ahead and tell you, that's the one. That one I bought for like 40 cents. It's up to like 250.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
But that's all I got today. Anything else today, Brianna?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Right. Well, happy holidays. Keep saying it. Just say, hey, you're halfway through December almost already. You got 12 days. If you're watching this or listening on the 13th. And so, hey, better get that shopping done.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
12 days of Christmas. Yes, left.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I know. Ryanisright.com. Find the highlight clips, all the articles, everything that we do on this show at the website. We appreciate you for making us number one. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's Friday the 13th. Friday, December 13th, 2024. Jason may not be here, but Brianna is. What's up, Brianna? You're much lovelier than, and you look lovely there in your studio at home than Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, by the way.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So that's helping the old cause a lot. While some of these other coins are dragging a little bit, I'm smacking them across the room going, get your shit together. The old XRP, up. But here's the thing. Monday and Tuesday, this is what happens with crypto. For at least no reason that I understand, we took an old dip, like 20%, like off the top.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And they say they do that because the big investors like start, they sell something, they kind of create this swirl and people like the, the smaller buyers, like the people that have, you know, 300, 400, 500, you cup a few hundred dollars, but there's a lot of them. So it's a lot of money. They get nervous. They sell out of everything. As soon as they see it start dropping.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So they say they do that on purpose because then the big investors swoop in on the dip and Buy the dip. Chris has said that a lot. And so I just watched it. I didn't buy or sell. Just watched it because I know there's too many positives in this space happening that I knew the dip was temporary. Oh, we're back, baby. We're back hard here today on the record day.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yep. And so the entire market was down. I mean, a lot of the ones I had were down 10 to 20 percent Monday and Tuesday. I'm just going, all right, whatever. Again, I have in here what I can afford to lose. I don't want to lose it. I don't like to lose, but I'm not like I'm not. You know, jeopardizing my my my kids future here on on the old Kraken. But I will say this.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So the entire market here today, we recorded on a Wednesday. So it is Friday the 13th for you when you're listening, hopefully, because you do this on record day. We know our release day. We know it. Our loyal ones do. The entire market is up six percent today. And let's just say I got 19% up, 20% up, 10%, 12%. I'm averaging like a 10.2% up on every one of the ones that I own just today alone.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And I'm just going to tell you that XRP is the one you want to get on. It's $2.43. It's expected to... like double or triple here, like next year. So we're all in on that one. XRP, Ripple. And don't ask, don't be sitting there. Somebody's listening and judging already. They're going, this guy's not a crypto expert. I am not a crypto expert.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I'm just telling you, if I was betting on certain coins, and I do like to read a lot. I research everything. My wife, whenever we're going on vacations, I do all the reviews. I read every one of them. There'll be 4,322 reviews on TripAdvisor. I read 4,100 of them. And so knowledge absorption, I am good at.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So I've been reading a lot, absorbing a lot, trying to learn a lot because I like to make a lot. And so far, so good. We're up to about six grand. I put in about 3,500 and we're right about 5,800 today. That's over about a month. So I've almost doubled.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
You know, that's not, hey, not typical. These results are not typical. But when you're the crypto-heavy guy like me, you know, you get lucky. I have no idea. I sometimes choose the names because I like the name of it. It's a brand marketing guy. I'm like, that's a pretty good branding decision.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
No, Chris will tell me if you, but then I pick the one of the three that he gives me based on if I like the name. Yeah. You know, they're all going to read some of the data. And hey, here's the trick. Don't go to the first page of the search results on something good like page five, because the first page I've here's my strategy is the first page has been let's just call it bought.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Which means they might be giving you certain tips because they want you to take it as the sort of amateur hour investor. So I go to page five of the search results and see what they say about certain coins. Hey, just an odd tactic. Don't know. But so far, so good. Up like 80%. So suck it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I don't know if I accept it or not. I just accept that people smarter than me are standing behind it and holding it up to be a good investment. And there's so much money now in it by the bigger institutions that I'm like, okay, if these guys could be in it, I can, you know, I need to be in this. It's not going to go to zero. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
That's what kids do to you, you know. They send you home. You got to pick them up early. Oh, God. I remember the days. It still happens. My eight-year-old has it every now and then. He's bad. He's the worst kind of sick. He's like me, like men. You know, like one little stuffy, oh, I'm not feeling good, Dad.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And again, you got to only bet or invest, whatever you want to call it, gamble, invest, whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy, what you can afford to lose.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
When are you getting in, Brianna? You got to get in on this game.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Mason on our team and I had this discussion yesterday. We were doing something. The amount of time that I spend looking up passwords and dealing with password management. And yeah, I know there's apps for that now, but they don't all solve all the issues. It's a pain in the ass. There's two-factor stuff. I get it. It's security. It's protecting us. I don't want all my shit taken, but damn.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
In 2024, can we solve the password stuff? Can we use retina? Like something that's only identified by us. You know, I'd probably give a blood sample to like, like in the morning, like a finger prick. Most people are babies about that. I don't care about that. Give me that finger prick. If I could, if that would give me clear unlimited passwords for the week, I'll prick the finger.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Oh, damn it. All right.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
You got to do it. Like when you wake up in the night, you need to like, you know, and you can't go back to sleep. At least you do something productive.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
We'll allow that. We'll allow that. It keeps the bills paid. This will be allowed. What's happening in the news?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
You know, we don't even really have Kroger's or Albertson's around here. Like, Kroger's in other parts of South Carolina. Albertson's might be, but I don't think so. So this, like, I'm speaking, like, from pure, like, local, like, impact, very little. I do understand these are two of the largest chains. I, you know, who knows? What's your reaction to this? Like, do you think they should block it?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Suck it up. Suck it up. Then I'm the same way. I'm like, if I don't get, I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that out loud. But when I am sick, which is not that often, I'm definitely a big baby. I think men are worse.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
No.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Kroger does own a bunch of the other names. That's right.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I don't want Albertsons messing up my Harris Teeter now. That's not jammed. So, all right. This does impact me, damn it.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Well, I don't know. The... The whole competition argument is a hard one to wrap your head around. And I do think choice is a good thing. I would need to see the list of, like, all grocery stores across the country, all the brand names that fall under each one of these. Obviously, Kroger has multiple. And think about what that would mean. Yeah. Yeah.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
I just don't like the government getting involved in business for the most part. And here's what they're
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah, and that's a good point. I mean, Amazon and Walmart, between .com and brick and mortar for Walmart, They have such scale. So to say that this, you know, puts them at some competitive advantage over them is hard to believe. I mean, who has more scale than Amazon or Walmart? So I don't think it – this is where I'd have to get into the data a little bit more.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And – but now that they're, like, throwing mud at each other so fast, it's like that – I don't know that most people have a lot of tolerance for it. And it's like, it just seems so fucking petty.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
Yeah. Let's see. I would be curious what Trump's position on this is. Something tells me he wouldn't have fought it, being more pro-business and probably more thoughtful of that Walmart, Amazon, everything else, reality. So we'll see where it goes. I think we can all agree that groceries cost too much for the most part. So anything that can get it cheaper if –
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So here's how I would pragmatically, I am for this or against this if it will lower grocery costs. You tell me which side it is, I'll support that. Because, hey, we can't do what the Independence Center is trying to do, and that's further the American dream if our grocery costs keep going up. We talk about the American dream a lot, and all I know is
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
So we hope everyone is doing well wherever, whenever, however you're listening here on Right About Now. We've got your weekly business news of the week and all kinds of good stuff. I'm going to start with the good news. So I've gotten into the crypto thing. And let me just say this. This is not financial advice.
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Crypto jumps back up, Americans are more illiterate and who is the world's richest man?
And I consider we're more well-off than most Americans, but we feel it. I mean, it's expensive. I go to the grocery store. I feel like I walk in, and it's like I got a $75 bill just to grab the shopping cart. Oh, yeah. I can't get out of there. I have four things in the cart, and it's like – Uh, $43.79. What?
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Yep. Nicole and I had a good time with the boys and did the beach thing on the DR and the resort and all conclusive and all that stuff. You look a little tan. Yeah, I got a little tan. A little brown. It's funny, I didn't realize that, I know it's sort of their winter time there, but obviously the temperature is still like 85. The sun wasn't quite as strong as it normally is, which is nice.
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I think so. So we can call that what it is. But at the same time, I can appreciate that he's getting some tougher points of view on the board. Yeah. You know? Dana White won't take any shit. He's going to speak his mind. Like it, love it, or leave it. And he's built a global empire with the UFC.
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I don't know if it's the fastest growing, but it's one of the most popular sports in the world right now. Across the board. I mean, I know soccer is always a behemoth and American football here, but...
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UFC is kind of universally, I mean, it's blasted boxing, you know, like, geez, boxing is kicking out of its own fucking way with cheating scandals, bad judges, and who knows what, and fights take it too long to put together. Dana gets the shit out of the way. It's like, all right, here we go. It's got one. You don't have all these organizations. It's just the UFC, right?
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Middleweight, heavyweight, bantamweight, whatever it is. You don't have the IBF, WBO, WBC. God, all they do is get in the way of boxing. Jeez. Dana knows how to build business, streamline it, build a global brand. Put the players or the fighters, you know, as the champions and putting them out there, their personal brands and all that stuff. So he gets it. We'll see what kind of impact that has.
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But hats off to Mark. Didn't know if I'd ever say that on the show. You know, kind of panned the metaverse for so long. which is still not really come to fruition, that I wasn't sure that I would ever agree with anything Mark Zuckerberg did. But you know what? We can all change. And I'm not just saying change because he came to my belief side or something like that.
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These are just common sense things to me. There's some politics going on here, yes. But I think the board stuff, some smart people with diverse backgrounds, I think that's the way you got to grow, right?
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Yeah.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
If it was my company, it just needs a direction change. Yeah, I mean, they had such a high percentage. Like, you know, they got 300 million users or something like that. They got 70% of the U.S. or something like that. It's hard to grow on top of that base. There's only one direction to go. And with other platforms growing, you're losing attention.
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I mean, it's all a battle for attention and time on site. And why they want time on site? Because they have ads and everything else that they're selling. So if you're in a battle and a race for the mind share of attention and people spending time on the platform, you've got to continue to evolve that platform to what –
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you're seeing and feeling and what's again, acknowledging things that went a little too far. So we'll see. I think it will have an, I mean, these are things that will have an impact on people. I think coming back to the platform, should it come to fruition the way it's laid out here, right? Next up here, we've got Toyota is exploring rockets. Just rockets, baby. Natural progression.
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No, it's more like EVs, batteries, not rockets. We're out with the... Okay, no gasoline. We're going to electric. Nah, we're going straight to rockets, baby. They announced a $7 billion investment in Interstellar Technologies, a Japanese startup developing orbital rockets. ban mobility beyond Earth and compete with companies like Elon Musk, SpaceX.
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The future of mobility shouldn't be limited to just Earth or just one car company, for that matter. That's what Toyota stated at CES this past week. The startup that they bought conducted seven launches of its suborbital Momo, not FOMO, Momo, Rockets reaching space for the first time in 2019. It says plans include developing the Zero and DECA rocket lines to deliver satellites into orbit.
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We haven't gone to January in a long time, but we had a good time. A little fun, a little sun, a little... Coco Bongo? No. We didn't do that. We hung out at the resort. Lots of Mexican beer, El Presidente. Hey, not a bad beer. I did kind of miss my Ultra, though. My craft. My craft beer in the States. Yeah. Ultra. High-end beer, Ultra. Yeah, exactly.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Hey, they want to get in on that government money, right? That's what this sounds like. And, you know, they don't want Bezos being the only one launching rockets into orbit.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Yes. It says, Toyota's move into space technologies reflects growing interest among automakers to diversify into emerging industries like space exploration. Wow. Yeah, but how do people really go into space?
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Yeah. The investment is a strategic step to compete in Japan's growing private space market and on the global stage with companies like SpaceX. I don't know if this is just PR and like, they're obviously making real money. I mean, some billion dollars.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Yeah.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Yeah, exactly.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
No. Not in our lifetime, buddy.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Yeah. This is not a consumer news bit here. It's like business. It's interesting, though. And it just shows you the influence of Elon, too, with what he's doing with SpaceX and all that. They're just like, hey, I want to get on that. They don't want to lose the PR war either, the news cycle. Even when Elon's not talking about Tesla and EVs, SpaceX is in the news. And so it's mind share.
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Again, attention share, brand share. And yeah, they're spending real money on real technology and real rockets. But this stuff is not going to impact probably for the next 20 years. So it matters, right? But this is news.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Yeah. Somebody's sitting in a room somewhere going, look, we got all these articles written about the rockets. You know? That's the win right now. Lots of zeros on that check they're writing. Speaking of lots of zeros, massive tuna sold for $1.3 million at Japan auction. $1.3 million. I need to start fishing, man. I got to get that big rod out. Got to start fishing.
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A 600-pound bluefin tuna sold for $1.3 million at Toyoso Market's first auction in 2025. It was made by the Ondera Group, a Japanese company operating sushi restaurants and other businesses. That's a lot of sushi, man. 600 pounds of bluefin. That must be some expensive stuff. It better be tasty. I wouldn't mind having a little of that. We'll buy to that 1.3.
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I feel like I've tried it before somewhere. I mean, I've had bluefin tuna, but I don't know if it's a special place.
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Would you know in a taste test? Yeah. Just like wine, like line them up. $1,000 bottle. $500 bottle.
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Am I going to be frowned upon for having rice and soy sauce on this? Yes. You put wasabi on this, they're going to roll their eyes at you. Is this like the equivalent of putting like A1 on your steak? Yeah. And I don't even do that. I don't do that. I do. Oh, you do? You're A1 guy?
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Yeah, they'll be like, get out of here. Get out of here. I don't like to kill the, like, I put a little salt, pepper, some seasonings, different things on the married, like on the outside of the steak, like the char. But then I don't really want anything else. Maybe butter. I know that's the Ruth Chris thing. Put a butter patty on whatever.
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So I hope wherever you are, whenever you are listening, I hope the new year has kicked off. I hope you haven't blasted through any of your new year's resolutions yet. You know, if you're having a dry January, sorry for you. If you're, you know, working out, hope you're sticking with it. I don't know. What are all those resolutions? Has the gym been more busy for you?
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I mean, you know, I get a cheap steakhouse, like old school. Yeah. Ryan's Quincy Steakhouse. You may listen to those guys. Yeah, I might want some A1. Give me some 57 on that. Heinz 57, ketchup and mustard mixed together, whatever it is. Their secret sauce. Yeah, whatever it is. Every secret sauce is a combination of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise mixed with spices. Just in different ratios.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
And vinegar. It's like, oh, here we have the Heinz 57.
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Yeah, exactly. Secret sauce. No secret sauce here for the 1.3 million bluefin. In our automation story of the week, Chick-fil-A is moving to a factory that automates the squeezing of their lemons, saying they're going to save 10,000 hours of work from the workforce and a lot of fingers that get smashed up squishing those things.
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And Chris and I had debated before the show, is it still considered fresh squeezed if it's not done by a human? I guess fresh still means it's a fresh squeezed lemon, no matter if it's a robot, a machine, or a human. But, I mean, if you're not, the blood, sweat, and tears are squeezing those things with your hand.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
I will say Chick-fil-A's got some good lemonade now.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Even that diet lemonade is pretty good. Splenda or whatever.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Oh, you know, we've already talked about how they pull the wool over your eyes. You know, Chick-fil-A's fooled everybody into thinking that's actually the healthy choice for the kids. Still french fries and fried chicken, but, you know, it's Chick-fil-A, baby. So it's got to be good.
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Yeah, doing God's work. And I do love Chick-fil-A. Me too. I like the people there. I like the brand. had their former CMO on the show in our weekly interview episode. And good guy. But no more squeezing the lemons by hand. Just evolution here, Chris. Everything changes. The robot's coming. It's coming.
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Yes. Take note. We're always fired up here on the show. Thank our sponsor, Exponent. X marks the spot for energy. Plant-based. All the good stuff, none of the bad stuff. They do fuel Ryan Alford and right about now. So we appreciate them. Check them out at Drink Exponent on Instagram and their website. That's the feed. Find them and you will thank me. It tastes healthy.
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We're talking about the natural lemon flavor. Their flavors taste like the flavor you would think it would. It doesn't taste artificially. That's all I like about them. It feels healthy. It's a clean energy. And all the best products that go into the ingredients. So appreciate the exponent. Appreciate them. That's all we got for this week. Send our love to California.
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Let's get that shit taken care of. Chris, any final thoughts?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
There we go. Hey, stick with those resolutions, whatever they are. Just stick with goals. Get your goals together. Let's make 2025 the best year yet. The best is yet to come on this show, in life, and in general. Be positive. Stay safe. Look out for one another. I appreciate Chris Hansen. I appreciate you for listening to this show. We know you have choices. Thank you for making us number one.
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RyanIsRight.com. You'll find all the highlight clips, links to our sponsors, and links to social media. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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Has to be expected.
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I know. I just do it every, you know, I'm a four to five a week guy. You know, if you just make it a lifestyle thing. You got to make it just your lifestyle. And look, some days only get 20 minutes in, but you got to do it. You got to get the heart pumping. Show up. Show up. It's... what we do and I just try to make it, I don't know. I've been that the whole way.
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I grew up with, I think it's thankful that my parents were kind of that way. They got in that early eighties, you know, nineties thing with people starting to work out. So I guess it's in our blood and my sister and I have always been kind of that workout crew. So I don't have to set the resolutions around working out.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It is January 10th, 2025, our weekly marketing and business news of the week. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. I'm joined by Chris Hansen down in Miami. What's up, Chris?
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
What I might have to do though, is set it on, you know, maybe cutting back the carbs or something. I have to dial back the carbs sometimes, but, I dropped like 20 LBs before the old DR trip. So I was feeling pretty good. I feel pretty good now. It's going to stick with it. I think I'll stick with the carnivore diet that I like, which is just steak all the time. Give me a hug, bro.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
That's what I brought for lunch today. I'm like, just give me that steak. And, you know, I like some chips and stuff or carbs or rice. Yeah, it's nice. But if I got a good steak. Or a piece of meat. I am the true, like, dude. Like, meat and potato guy. That's how it is. We want to send our love to everybody in California and L.A. is impacted by the fires that are just out of control there.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Obviously, we pre-recorded this before the Friday release, but it is not pretty. And so, I don't... You just never know. We take a lot of things for granted. The wind meets fire over there, and it is just an ugly scene. A lot of people losing homes and cars and valuables and life, I'm sure, will be taken. I don't know what the toll is exactly, but
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Definitely want to send thoughts, prayers, and just, you know, an acknowledgement that that shit sucks. And we'll see where it lands, but it hasn't looked pretty, Chris. I know you have family that's been impacted.
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Yes, for sure. So everything we talk about on the show is an article of some format, usually from our friends at Google. If we're being honest, you know, Google and business news, seeing what's happening. But when we want to talk about politics, we want to keep it straight down the middle as much as possible. Stay independent.
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It's like because you get you get pushed one way or the other when you're reading news. Too far left, too far right. We want to keep it straight line. That's why we partner with Independence Center. I was reading one of their articles that was talking about the tax cuts and jobs report. And everything that's happening now with sort of the battle between Congress, left, right,
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All of these complex things, they're sometimes hard to understand. You hear about it. You think you should care about it, but you don't understand exactly. That's why Independence Center brings to you articles that really tell you exactly what's happening, how to interpret what the right or the left might be saying to you. You got to go to IndependenceCenter.org. IndependenceCenter.org. Sign up.
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Good. Happy New Year again. Again. I know. Can you say Happy New Year like more like you keep saying it all January? Is it only good like the first 10 days of January?
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You'll get articles there. surveys, all kinds of data into your email box that's independent, that tells you what's happening in politics without the spin. IndependenceCenter.org, official sponsor of Right About Now. Lots of random news here this week. I think kind of lump these into two for one here with Meta slash Facebook and old Mark Zuckerberg.
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Hey, I give credit to anybody that can change, right? We can judge him. I mean, he's one of the most wealthy guys on the planet. Owns one of the most, I don't know, used, known platforms on the face of the earth. Right. And, you know, sometimes we go a little far with things. I think... They say what I say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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So the filtering and the holding back of information that's happened, the censorship that's been prevalent on the social media channels is being dialed back. Because he acknowledged himself, literally, that our fact checkers were politically biased. I mean, while I was saying no shit, I was applauding him. So two things can be true.
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It could have definitely gone too far, but I can applaud you for at least acknowledging it and making up for it now. It's interesting when Mark starts hanging out with all the UFC guys, which we'll get to the second part of that news. He's toughening up a little bit. This isn't about who's tough and who's not, but it's like we're in America, and it should not be censorship.
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You don't have to like everything you hear. I hear a lot of shit I don't like, but it doesn't mean that I can tell someone not to say it or hold it back or start censoring it, especially when you have platforms as big as this is.
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So they're eliminating third party fact checkers across Facebook, Instagram and threads, replacing them with user generated community notes, similar to what Elon is doing with X. Mark stated that fact checkers, fact checkers have been too politically biased and cause more harm than good. Yes. You think about this.
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I don't know why the 7th. Well, I'm going to. Hey, we buck trends around here. Happy New Year wherever you are, whenever you are, however you're listening. Coming to you from the studios here. at my place called Social House in Greenville, South Carolina. That's where we do this show. I got a co-work lounge here in Greenville. If you visit this wonderful city, stop by and see us. You can co-work.
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Yeah. I mean, it's... Sure, there's other factors. This is one of the notes that says, the move aligns with a broader shift to the right in Meta's leadership and comes as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. How about we just say it moves... Instead of like being, it moves closer to what is right by the American law, not right or left.
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Obviously the other side and other people feel like it's political pandering and
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Yeah. When is that? And I get, and even Mark acknowledged, we're going to catch less bad stuff, but we'll also reduce the number of innocent people's posts and accounts that we accidentally take down. You know, so there are trade-offs, but there are trade-offs when you have free speech and when you have freedoms. And, you know, for the most part, We've got to live with the good and the bad.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
It's what makes this and more good happens than bad when you don't censor. Right.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's funny how, you know, the lines get drawn, I guess.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
It just follows the money a lot of times.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
You know, but that's, but it's better for everyone else. If, if, you know, like everybody's spinning something, you know, let's just admit it. And so let's all be able to, you know, put our spin on it and have the community notes like, okay, it needs that. That's fine. But yeah,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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You can drink. You can watch games. You can hang out. Mixed use. And, of course, the studio of your number one marketing and business show on the planet is right here. So come and see us. You know, Chris, just getting back into the groove, back from the old DR, Dominican Republic. Had a nice week with the fam, wife and kids.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
I think I'm just going to strike this up to Mark coming to his senses a little bit here and evolving as a business leader. Along that same thing, UFC boss to join the board of Facebook. Wild. Yeah. Several appointments to Meta's board. I mean, just a quick note here. How many people still call Meta Facebook and how many people still call X Twitter?
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
This has been like the worst changeover in names of all time.
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
And for the most part, I like the guys that have done it. But it just shows you that's a hard genie to put back in the bottle or to change. It's a hard rebrand. Hard rebrand. I mean, what percent of people truly call Meta Meta?
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
I think they know. And I think if Mark had to do that one over again, he probably would. I don't know that Elon would because he's kind of had at least some rationale around X for a long time, owned like X.com for like 10 or 15 years or something like that. But it's like, I don't know if that's gone well. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, he does, I think. Soda and Seven. No, that was from Seinfeld.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
That was his favorite. That was George's favorite names. Soda and Seven. Anyway, random names. And Cupcake. UFC CEO Dana White, John Elkin, and Charlie Songhurst. Elkin is the head of XOR. Songhurst is an ex-Microsoft executive, and they're all on the Meta slash Facebook board. Zuckerberg highlighted their expertise in AI, wearables, and future technologies.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Dana White, a close ally of Donald Trump, transformed UFC into a global business. White expressed excitement about contributing to AI and emerging technologies. He's known for advocating free speech. White has faced controversies, including a viral exchange over anti-LGBT remarks by UFC fighters. It's like they got to throw this in there. Like anything that goes again. Who wrote this article?
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Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
Oh, okay. Yeah, I know why. Mainstream media. All left-leaning. Meta-Trump relations. Meta's recent moves signal improved relations with Trump after a history of tension, especially post-January 2021's Capitol riot. Mark Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund and had personal engagements with him. Were you aware of that? The million-dollar Trump's inauguration fund? Yes. Yeah.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Cutting Through the BS on Economy Shifts, Crypto Trends, Luxury Disruption, and the Future of Business
What do you make of that? Smart business?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Hey, guys, on today's episode of Right About Now, we've got your weekly business news highlights. We've got six big takeaways from Trump's speech to Congress. We'll call it a speech address, whatever you want. We've also talked about, hey, you guys heard of Skype? What's going away in May? Don't Skype no more.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
So he said, I don't, I don't pretend to, he was implying that he didn't know necessarily every move that Donald was making and to what end was it leading. Which I think is a fair thing to say. I think- Yeah.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah. And I think we can all agree a stronger America is a better America. So if we can do that with as little pain as possible, but even if there's a little bit of pain- I think we can all support that that's necessary.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
The whole, I mean, it's not business related. I thought about not even bringing it up. It happened in between last week and this week, but the whole Zelensky, a debacle on television. I mean, I didn't, I didn't really, I didn't like that being a, I don't think it was good for really anyone personally. I thought that we Trump is playing a bigger role here.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And again, I think maybe the ends are the right way. I just I just didn't like that being aired. That was just my personal at all. Even if it sort of reflected the position, the strength, the strength that we should have and that we shouldn't just keep sending suitcases of cash over to Ukraine with no end in sight.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I can agree with the policy and the end goal without necessarily liking the way it's all been, I don't know, spewed over television.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
No, no. But I mean, did you like, even if Zelensky looked like an idiot and looked like overplaying his hand, but did you love that all being aired that discussion?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I think it's purposeful. Obviously. Look, they don't let anything out. They don't want to get out. So cameras are rolling. Things are shared.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Inflation and energy policy. Trump blamed Biden for high egg prices and pledged to tackle inflation through oil and gas drilling. Drill, baby, drill.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah, I'm sure. It's supposed to always be sunny and hot and awesome in Miami.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
You cannot get eggs. There's no other grocery stores.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Well, so all those Trader Joe's, I can't get that organic or whatever. Make that honest. Trader Joe's all organic.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Not all. Uh, Skype. No more Skype. I mean, I saw this and I was like, I was not surprised. You use it all the time. I used to, but I haven't used it all the time. When was the last time you used Skype?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah. Well, you got all the people that move there for that and then the tourists and it's constantly coming through there. Like at any given time, I know you're kind of in a... quasi-neighborhood-y, you know. Not tourist area. Not tourist area, but you're around it enough. Like, does it always feel like 50-50? 50, or does it feel more tourist?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah. Other than those Skype video calls we do.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I had to go look when I saw this article and go, when's the last time I... Now, your phone offboards apps you don't use. Skype was definitely in the land of misfit apps. Undownloaded. The big question mark on where the app spot is on your phone. You're like, let's not use that in a while.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah. Uh, we use zoom and, and, uh, Google meets Slack, Google meets. We will use, uh, teams occasionally on calls, depending on the client. Uh, uh, Or I would actually argue that the DMs of all the social media apps had probably killed Skype as much as anything, right? Yeah. Skype was more consumer-based than I think most of the DMing stuff, like the business stuff, like Zoom and other ones.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yep. And now WhatsApp. I mean, WhatsApp's pretty much killed it.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah. If you have, I mean, anyone ever sees their own WhatsApp for the most part.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Start market is actually up, at least here on recording day. After the news, some of the jobs market stuff, small business, super small businesses down, medium-sized business kind of up, service businesses up. We talked about the impact of AI and jobs last week. I think the jobs... Jobs is a metric of overall economic standing of the whole country.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
It's going to be an interesting one to monitor because of the impact that we know and have said that AI will have. The net is probably going to be fewer. It just depends on where these kind of jobs migrate to, like we talked to. AI is not taking your job. people that use AI are going to take your jobs.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
So, it will be interesting, the segments, the switches of, you know, someone that used to do this, that gets in, that gets on the bus, the AI bus, understanding, leveraging it, learning it, where that job exists, you know, in the future, may not be in the exact same category. So, and we'll, it's also interesting
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
never been seemingly more i don't know easy to be an entrepreneur and to be your own boss just so many damn ways that you can like leverage the economy of i don't know the gig economy just and so many different ways like with the internet and social media and all this stuff like i don't I don't know that it has to be your day job, but to not be dabbling in it just in case.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I just can't imagine with all the tools there are, right?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Anything else big hitting your radar this week, Chris?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Like it was like, okay, it's been down, down, down. We had a little shoot up. I was like, okay, we're back, baby. And then boom, you know, all off.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah, my XRP, like playing with my emotion, it's like literally. It was a tease. It looks like this. And then the net is like 3% difference week over week.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Bye. Bye now. Bye low. Bye the wave. I just need that XRP to jump, baby. Got a lot of eggs in that basket. I can't keep... There's no clear unicorn right now. It's not...
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
You're in midtown, right?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
doge or whatever like it's all these things seem to be riding the same curves there's no like i'll go look at like the biggest gainers of the day trying to find like the winner and then watch it for a couple days and then it's the biggest loser two days later you know it's like the nbc special biggest winner biggest loser biggest winner biggest loser come on win baby win i gotta get something on this horse spread the love be diversified i know it's the play
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
What's the Miami vibe these days, Miami business vibe?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
But I totally agree on the AI, Chris. It's sort of like muscle memory. You got to keep doing it, remembering, and the applications are greater than you might think. You can generate content.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Again, we're going to talk about tariffs, the impact to the U.S., the stock market, and all the latest hits here on Right About Now.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
So if you've been following along, we're about to start a series. Actually, I'm getting all the players in the sports card game trading cards. Sorry, Pokemon. When I say sports card, that doesn't include you, but I do mean to include you. Those Pokemon people, man, are crazy. It's one thing sports cards, Chris, but Pokemon, those guys run you over.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I've been at the Walmart about got ran over by a kid like, hey, he wanted that Pokemon pack, dude. Like, hey, look out. I'll smack you right in the foot. I wouldn't smack a kid. I'd shake one, but I wouldn't smack him. Hit the Walmart. Dude, it's like running in here like hordes. Got to get those Pokemon, bro. Yes, I know. Trying to make that money like you. Yeah, I know.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
You got to go to BreakingRad. BreakingRad.com. You'll see the boys and I have set up the site. Go check out that. Sign up for our email list. We're going to be putting all of our best cards up there for sale today. part of the Rad Collective, Chris. You see these hologram stickers you already got here. This is legit. The Rad Collective. I'm not playing around.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Hey, I can't wait around for this crypto market. I got to go where the money is. The sports cards. I'm going to be gambling. I'm going to at least get to open something. But crypto, they may say that digital stuff is as good as physical. I don't know. I need some real action in my life. This is like legal gambling for children and adults. But that's why we've got our good friends at Donruss.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Good friends at Donruss and Panini. One of one million different types of packs. Let's see what we get today, Chris. Are you feeling lucky?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah, exactly. One or the other. Yeah. That's how you can tell. Yeah. That's somebody, just some poor schlep that, uh, is a tourist falls asleep. He's got the red, you know, the skin ton. I always see that guy at the pool or whatever. My ties at fountain blue. Kicking them back. You know how it is. Oh, I know. I know how it is. Well, you appreciate everyone for listening or watching.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
You got to watch this on YouTube. If you're listening, I'll give you a little ASMR.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I got like $200 on there. So maybe this will be a good one. Yeah, exactly. Let's get in here. Get our Burberry glasses in on the picture. So you always start with these base cards that aren't really worth much. They're kind of fun. You got a 2A. That's fun. But you're really trying to get to the good stuff like this one. sweater that's Cade Stover's. These are called patches.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Essentially, he's got material from either game-worn uniforms or other things related to the team. Cade Stover, rookie for the Houston... Texans. I almost called them the Houston Oilers. I'm showing my age a little bit. So these are fun cards. Maybe a $5 card. Xavier Leggett played at South Carolina. Jordan Morgan, Courtland Sutton. So your hit of that pack is the sweaters, Chris.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Wouldn't you want your own trading card where a Houston Texans sweater that you had gets to be featured in? It's kind of thick. Kind of cool.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Nice feature. My kids would be excited about that pick, about that pack, because you get the whole sweater in and all that. So we'll do one more bonus pack just for everyone here. You know, you got to watch this on YouTube to get the full effect. Go to BreakingRad.com. See all of our cards for sale and links to our Whatnot channel where we're going to be doing live breaks.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Do that ASMR for you one more time. See, I mean, don't you want to hear that pack opening, Chris? I do if there's money in it. Oh, there's money, baby. There's money. Hey, old Barry Sanders. It's not old, though. It's just a base card. These are base cards. And Julius Pepper's old school. Oh, looky there. That looks like Baker Mayfield. Old card. That would be one.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
You've got Javon Baker, Edrin Cooper. This would be called the so-so pack, Chris. That's a so-so pack. So-so for in for two. Anyway, check it out. Breakingrad.com. Chris, any final words today?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Exactly. Get out there. Hey, let's not make it... Left and right. Let's make it, you know, about humans. Yeah. Humanity, not politics. Policy is not politics. We appreciate you. We appreciate our sponsors, Independence Center and, of course, Exponent. Go to IndependenceCenter.org. Plug in your email. That's where you get the true policies and not the partisan politics.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And, of course, Exponent powers me and powers the show. We appreciate them and we. Most certainly appreciate you for Chris Hansen in Miami. I'm Ryan Alford from here at our studios at Social House in Greenville, South Carolina. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Go check us out on YouTube or you can always watch us on Spotify. We've got the full video versions. You can see Chris and his cool glasses. He's always got, you never know. You know, Chris is rocking that vibe. And, uh, Yeah, give us a little subscribe. We'd appreciate it. And if you enjoy the show, tell your friends, leave us a review, shoot us some DMs on social media. That's what we do this.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
We appreciate you for listening. We know you got an option. So thanks for choosing us with your time and attention. We've got our weekly news here, Chris. We had Trump's address to Congress, which a lot of business impact from that, but I think it's two things are, you know, always interesting to me about that, about those, no matter what it is.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Like, okay, when it was Biden, the political theater that remains, even after, you know, the public has sort of told people that we're kind of over this shit and, you know, the politics of it all, But the whole theater, and I call it theater, and I call it entertainment to a degree because it's all very serious topics. We'll start there.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
But then the whole polarization of the room, clapping or not clapping, based on party divide is –
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
It's so high school. It's so juvenile. It's like grow up. And look, it goes both sides. This is not a... When Biden was in office, the Republicans did it.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Everyone in the room is over 60 years old.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah. I wonder why. Say why.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I guess they're not going to leave me anything. Yeah.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I'm not really counting on it. Whatever. Make your own way.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
sad and is that are we gonna repeat history like are the 30 and 40 year olds gonna do the same shit 20 years from now can we just get to a better system and a less i get that you the two parties balance each other out you've got the yin and the yang and i i get why we developed the system
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
But that's just broken when you can't clap for the kid with cancer, like you mentioned, and just some very obvious things that should not be politicized. And it's just ugly. It's just – it's not even, I don't know, humane.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Imagine if our kids did that. Like if they... The whole classroom was divided in two.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And half the class is like... Yeah, exactly. And would we support that? Would that be acceptable behavior?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And these are elected politicians. So... Term limits.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
We need them. Term limits and new ideas. And so... A lot of that was shared. I mean, the biggest part, I think, to me is like the taxes. Trump talking about tax cuts. And, you know, I'll say this. We've talked about a lot with the dosing and Musk. If you're going to give tax cuts, it's got to come from somewhere. At least we're starting with the cuts, you know, with finding waste, right?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's our weekly business news here on March 7th, 2025. Joined, as always, by my good friend, Chris Hansen. What's up, Chris? What's up, brother? How are you today? I am fantastico here on a Friday morning. It is. We're grinding through March already. February was a flash. March is here. Spring has sprung. And, hey, the news must be told.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And then, you know, like we can actually do some tax cuts if we can cut $2 trillion in waste, right?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yep. So we're cutting lots of DEI. I mean, that's a hot topic.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
They sneak it in those bills. Are we not further along than this that we need to pay homage to certain groups versus hiring who's best at the job? And I know that it can be polarizing for white male to say something like that, and potentially. But I'm just like, I don't look through that lens. I just look at my friends, my workers, whatever. You're either...
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
you know, worthy of my friendship or you're worthy of a job because of your merits. Like, I don't care what diversity or ethnicity. And I think most America, there's still pockets, but I think most people know how to judge like characteristics of people that are not their heritage or their skin color. And to set policies and continue to like go down these roads, I,
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I know it could be perceived as like, oh, it's easy for you to say that, but no, it's just, I just feel like that's the sentiment that I get being like attached to like small business, whatever, like.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
You know, you are worthy of my friendship or, or I am worthy of yours. It's two way street. And same thing with work. If you can provide value to me, And vice versa.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yep.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
No, exactly. Like I love, we work with lots of people in the Philippines. Joel and his team helped our team for years. Most trustworthy, greatest. But honestly. I don't care about the first, the Philippine. All I care about, trustworthy, reliable. And does a good job. And does a good job.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And I will say the only thing that I will say as a small business owner in the industries that we're in, I don't get a lot of... diverse candidate pools. Like I don't have a lot of people apply like as many now, maybe it's it.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
So that, that I would, if we could do things to encourage that, maybe getting more diversity within certain industries, like I can support that, but not, but I'm not going to hire them for the sake of diversity.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah. And being a small business that has 10 or fewer employees, like, It sort of falls with the reality of I don't hire that many people that often. It's just statistics. Yeah, it's just statistics models, unfortunately. So I'd get behind getting more candidates sometimes. I'd love that. But I just want the best candidates, you know, for what I have.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
The spring sling. Yes. All the spring get-togethers, the outings, the 60 to 70 degree weather that's wonderful. Oh, you know, everything turned to green. We get rid of some of this gray around here. I need some trees to have some green back on them, you know?
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
Yeah, man. I'm very practical in this. It's black and white.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
It's just yes, no. Good, bad. Are you adding value or not? Money is dreams. Yeah. I don't know, man. I choose to believe that we reflect the majority in that opinion.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And so gutting some of these DEI programs that just feel like the premise was wrong, maybe to begin with, it's like maybe intentions were right, but like anything, once you start to sort of divide the line, you have to protect the line. And so once you make the stand of the DEI thing, you go to the ends of the earth to protect it, to do these programs, to do all that.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And then it's just all about protecting what's there, not necessarily if the premise was right to begin with.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
And I mean, the big thing with tariffs, you know, I think this is still negotiation. We're still pushing like to the brink here. I know of you with Canada and Mexico. I have a feeling that that will probably work itself out. Yeah. Let's like two months from now, if these are in place and we're truly feeling it on every level. OK, we'll have that conversation and what it means or doesn't mean.
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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I still feel like we're playing a game of chicken here and negotiation. China is a whole different thing with a whole lot of different impacts because they are an adversary. versus Canada and Mexico are allies for the most part. They don't have much of a military. Yeah. We are their military, essentially. We are their military, and we would protect them.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
But there's still the realities of the economics of all this stuff, and it needs to be in line with... the baseline reality of how much importing export, like it's just like, it's a equity here. Like we've been paying some of these fees and different things in Europe and all these other countries for so long. I, I think it's hard to, it's interesting.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS: The Rise of Trading Cards - Trump's address to Congress - Skype's Discontinuation
I saw Warren Buffett, you know, had a comment and this is where I think, you know, it's a calculated comment. It's like, he was asked about, you know, the terror of some of the things Trump's doing. He's like, my only question is, is what I ask myself when I make decisions to what end, like what's the end game.
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This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
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I didn't really get fired up until I read every quote from that. I'm like, are you kidding me? What are we talking about here? But this is some of the arguments that you have. This is some of the stuff that you deal with in reading the news and seeing the interpretations. That's why we say we take the bullshit out of the... This is a partisan.
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I'm just saying it's asinine to have this conversation about government control of the social media when we know what's going on here. So, yeah. Taking the bullshit out of business. No BS. Just straight facts here. I mean, we get paid for our opinions. However, some of this is just factual. Let's do our homework, people.
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Yeah. Tariff talk. So as the way the world turns here, as the world turns, You know, the tariffs come, tariffs go. Like, we started, we were talking yesterday, news articles, tariffs in place, and everything with USPS, no packages, no more packages, you know, from China with the $200 limit, whatever. But as of this releasing... Tariffs.
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Suddenly, Canada and Mexico come into the table, which is what this is meant to be due. It's called a tactic, people.
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Yeah, right. It is amazing what happens. And look, no matter where you fall politically, you've got to acknowledge the fact that shit's happening. You may or may not like it, depending on where you fall. But that's not the point. The point is, we have... Policies being enacted. We have, I don't know, progress.
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Negotiation.
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Yeah, so they both come to the table. We paused the tariffs to get to the negotiation table. We've got a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports is still moving forward, prompting retaliation from China. I mean, yeah. And look, I'll say this. And Donald Trump said this, and I don't say this from a position of like arrogance or anything. It's just like reality.
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There probably will be some pain from this from for some people.
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It's going to be rocky. And look, but we got to get them talking. The trade deficits with all these countries is ridiculous. How much more we're bringing in than what we're sending out. So there's got to be some balance. We'll find it. We'll find it. It's going to be rocky getting there, but you got to find some balance. And status quo isn't good enough. It's not.
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You're fooling yourself if you think Well, I don't, you know, let's not rock the boat too much, you know? No. You got to start having some of these discussions because it gets real interesting. We can, we can get comfortable in business with what's comfortable today with the assumption that it's going to stay that way. And that's a false belief that, it, everything changes.
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And if you aren't preparing for that change, if you aren't confronting it, it, then you're fooling yourself. That's in business. It's in politics and everything. And so it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy the moment, but like, this is, these are just realities that need to be faced. So we'll see what happens, but tear us in, tear us out.
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Started at USPS, delivering, not delivering, now delivering. Okay. But we're getting conversations started. I think Donald's, look, like, love, dislike, whatever with the administration. He's kind of getting, you know, like when you, if you shake someone's hand with one of those zappers. Yeah.
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the jolt we're getting a little jolt here like it's we got to get some jolt happening like jolt cola remember that chris you ever had a little jolt cola that's before energy drinks that shit tasted terrible But I drank it, man. I'd get a little, I was like 14 or something. I don't even know what's going on. That was before, like, we knew everything.
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One would say it looks like progress to me, especially, I mean, we'll start right with Doge. I did see, related to unrelated, that a singer wore a Doge dress to the Grammys the other night. It was interesting. It was a writer, actually, a singer-songwriter. Not well-known. I'll leave out names for the sake of that.
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It's kind of like, you know, you smoke on planes too, I guess. You know, Joe Cola, like, you know, 400 milligrams of caffeine for a teenager. Good idea. Yeah, good idea. Not a good idea. But anyway, we need a jolt to some of these things to get the conversations happening. Because Sleepy Joe, it wasn't happening. And status quo wasn't good for anyone. So we'll see. Big trade in the NBA.
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I thought this was interesting. I wouldn't normally talk about it. But with two of the best players in the league, there is a business impact. And, hey, I'm into sports. My kids are into it. I've got my sports cards here. I'm going to talk to that. Brought another pack, folks. Sent out a couple packs this week. Couple more. Hey, DM me.
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Hey, but look, Luka Doncic... I always have a hard time saying his last name. Doncic... He's got that interesting accent, but I like Luka. My kids like him, too. Luka traded for Anthony Davis, Dallas to L.A. This hit shockwaves. I did not see this coming. You know, watch just enough basketball to keep up with it. AD's a lot older, like six years older.
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Luka's in his prime, and a lot of people are saying no one would ever trade like a prime Jordan, prime Bird, Magic. None of those would have – they would have never been traded. So why is Luka getting traded? Well, I don't know. It seems – bizarre at best. I don't think they got along. I saw a video, Chris. This is interesting. They showed a video. I'd never seen this video.
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It's funny where these videos pop up to sort of prove the point. Luka is probably top five, top three players in the league. Some would say the best right now. Plays for Dallas. And last year they won like a playoff series and he was having a beer in the hallway after the victory. They'd won the series. And I think they still had another series to go.
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But there was going to be, like, a two-week layoff or something. So, like, he was celebrating with a beer. Sometimes they pop champagne and stuff. And, like, the president of operations grabbed the beer, like, walked by him and, like, kind of put his arm around a lot of there, took the beer out of his hand and walked away. It was just, it was non-confrontational.
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It was just like, and Luca just kind of looked at, I was like, and people were saying that there was a little bit of odds that Luca doesn't work hard enough or is not in shape enough or whatever. And Mike, I don't, you know, I don't see his personal workout regimes. I don't know, but interesting trade nonetheless and big shock waves. I know you're not like a gigantic NBA fan.
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Did you know this had gone down?
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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It's short-term. It might be good for Dallas because they have Kyrie Irving. And so they've got offense. They've got some other players. It might make them better, like, for about this long. But long-term, it's a better win for the Lakers. It'll be interesting how Luka and LeBron James play together. Haven't seen comments from LeBron.
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It actually goes to show you, you know, in this world where you fight, the players kind of control everything now. I mean, the players had no idea, you know, like, oh, so maybe the owners do still control this. And when they want to make a move, they make a move. We'll see. Home affordability crisis taking a toll on America's young adults. Interesting.
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I've been doing some man on the street stuff for one of our official sponsors, Independent Center. Go to independentcenter.org, sign up for their newsletter. Nonpartisan stories and advice and data straight to your inbox, independentcenter.org. Been doing some stuff like man on the street, going to ask people, hey, what do you think of the American dream?
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Still alive and well, yes or no, those kind of things. And The sentiment, you know, we're trying to go around and get diverse answers. You know, you got a few of the absolutelies, which I tend to agree with myself. But then there's a few that, you know, just point out the fact that what I've noticed, which is a lot of salaries haven't changed while all these prices have gone up.
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You know, like, and I'll even say, like, in the services that I offer, like for the eighth day, I mean, I haven't been able to raise my prices 30%. Got to pay people a little bit more, but their salaries haven't doubled. But I'll be damned if the grocery bill isn't doubling for all of us. So much less home affordability.
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Price is, you know, Greenville, South Carolina, home of our studio and my home, and I love it. And it's nothing really reflective of Greenville. But I've talked about this before, houses that I owned 10 years ago that have doubled in pricing when salaries haven't doubled. You know, that's how, I mean, no other income streams doubled. And look, can't fight progress. Not fighting it.
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It's more to kind of tee off the reality of what Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, is up to with Elon. A lot of backlash. We'll get to that. We'll tell all sides of this coin. But I saw where the things they've enabled, saving the average American $490-something, $468, everything they've done so far.
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But it doesn't change reality. You know, whether I'm fighting it or believe in it or not, it doesn't change the reality. So it says, homeownership is increasingly difficult due to rising interest rates, inflated home prices, and stagnant wages. There we go. What we just said. Many young adults are forced into lifelong renting, unable to build equity.
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Without strategic shifts, we're watching an entire generation get priced out of the American dream. It's from foxbusiness.com.
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I don't, you know, I, it seems like a genie that's hard to put back in the bottle. Right. I think it would help with interest rates.
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Yeah. And here's what it says. This is from Tom Spaeth, Easel Properties. Ten years ago, 50% of homes were affordable for young families. Today, only 15%. Institutional investors are buying up homes, forcing young families into renting in lower quality neighborhoods, increasing financial stress and housing instability.
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There's more to this article that I'm going to bring up, but it does bring up an interesting thing. If I was starting a neighborhood, like you almost, if I'm going to, and I know there's both sides of the spectrum, developers sell the houses, but just say you have to live here, right? If you buy a home in this neighborhood, you have to live here. I could see that coming. I could see that coming.
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And that would change some of this, wouldn't it?
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Oh yeah. I mean, I don't think that this follows like what we want to be see happening. And look, I have, I own a rental property. a few of them. And so I'm, I can understand both sides of this. The, it, it's tricky, but I think you need to have a percentage that's at least owned by the people that are there for new neighborhoods and things like that. Um,
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There's also the reality that there are people, and I'm going to fight for, go on both sides here, take the BS out. Like for myself as an investor, the people that are renting from other properties that I own would not ever, they would not have been 10 years ago, 20. These people need to rent. That's their only option. based on the lifestyle and the jobs and the realities of their credit.
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And it's just the reality. So we're getting, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not giving myself like some altruistic, Oh, I'm giving people opportunity, but in a way they would not be able to afford to live in this house any other way, but to rent it. So there's that balance of it, but you do, it's a slippery slope. And again,
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It can't artificially inflate the price of the houses based on institutional investors versus homeowners and the reality of what people can afford and what they should cost. Unless we're just going to decide that no one's going to own homes. But I will say, and a lot of people do, that that genie's probably not going to go in the bottle.
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Yeah. Took two weeks. And a lot of – there's a lot of layers going on with our government. A lot of people getting paychecks. A lot of people doing jobs. This is why you need to watch the YouTubes or the Spotify video to see the air quotes I just held up. Doing jobs that may or may not be jobs. I don't know, Chris. You and I do jobs. I don't know if these guys are doing jobs.
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And if you want, and part of your American dream is to have ownership of land, parcel, home, do it in the next five years. Make it happen. Because it probably isn't getting better. And we might move to this world where, you know, it's just a renter's world. I don't know. And part of me can understand that world where you don't necessarily have to own it to live there.
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But I think it also just depends on what you want your goals and like to be like, if you want to own it and retire there and be in the middle of nowhere and be bothered by no one, then you better start buying it now. We'll see. I don't know, Chris. I mean, what's your American dream? Is your American dream to have 10 acres in the middle of nowhere?
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I think it's the stage of life. I do think, like, if you start making... Well, if I had a wife and kids, yes. And I think if you can afford it, and even whether that's going to be Columbia when you're 60 or, you know, South Carolina woods, you know, like, to start saving for that or to have that to go to winter if you want to, to not have... But I will say...
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It's interesting because when you own the property, unless you still have income, you've got property taxes. You have cost that comes with that home ownership. It's never outright owned with no cost other than, you know, putting food in it. And so it's interesting. Yeah. It raises a whole lot of other questions. It could be an episode alone, but we'll table that. I will say I did talk last week.
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I want to give a shout out to Sarah Saunders at ResumeBuilder.com. They put out the article this week, 44% of Americans lying in the hiring process. They've got a press release out. You can go to ResumeBuilder.com to see it. It's pretty interesting. So 24% have lied on their resume. 19% in an interview and 6% on the cover letter. We hit on some of these stats last week, but pretty amazing.
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This is nearly half of Americans. So... I, I, uh, I'm a good marketer. So sometimes I, I find myself like my wife will catch me sometimes like not lying, but like, I like, I'm not an exaggerator, but I like to talk things up. And like, so it makes me like cognizant of this. And I'm not on my resume, by the way, I've been an entrepreneur for eight years now, but more like, okay, all right.
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What are you going to find? You know, there's a difference between, uh, marketing and lying, uh, So be a good marketer. Don't be a good liar. That's the key. Also say don't let the truth get in the way of a good lie or a good story. So, yeah, anyway, I digress. Don't lie on your resume. It doesn't help. Play the long game. I've been there.
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We've all done, like, stupid shit in our lives, and, you know, we've all told lies at some point. I just – They compound, man. So it's never good. You agree, Chris?
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Karma will get you. Just one way or another. We appreciate Resume Builder for sending in those stats. ResumeBuilder.com. Finally today, as I finish off this episode, you know, we're always fueled. You see the X's. X always marks the spot. I keep the energy throughout the episode high because of Exponent. DrinkExponent.com and DrinkExponent on Instagram. Plant-based, zero sugar, zero bad stuff.
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All the good stuff. Keeps me powered up. No crash. None of that sugar buzz. None of those calories. Hey, it's 70-something degrees out here. I got the one pack showing. I got to get at least three going. The only way to do that is I can't be drinking my calories, Chris. No drinking calories. Can't. No Cokes. None of the sugar stuff. Plant-based fusion energy drink exponent.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's our weekly business news recap of the week here on February 7th, 2025. There's so much stuff happening, it's hard to recap it all. But we're going to hit the highlights here. myself and my hombre down in Miami. What's up, Chris? What's good, brother? How are you? Yeah, I'm good, man. You haven't been deported, have you?
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The official energy drink of right about now. We appreciate them. Got the packs, baby. Sports Card Central is going on. Rad Rips. And, hey, possible new show name. You know, they call now like when you open a box or something and you share it. It's called like breaking. Like breaking is like opening packs, like shared maybe with someone else. So I had a name idea.
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So instead of, you know, Breaking Bad, Breaking Rad. For a card shop or a sports card podcast. Breaking Rad. Because, hey, you want a Rad break. Copy the Breaking Bad logo. Exactly. Yes. That'd be a good... That might be... If I decide to do a third show and I clone myself, Chris, it might be that. So, one pack open. Hey, this could be a good sign. We didn't even talk about it.
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That's how much stuff is going on, Chris. Could be a sign. So... A game, the big game, is Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday. We have Philly and we have KC. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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Yes. Social justice, equity, and making sure all the stories match what we want them to be versus what they really are. It's called, I don't know if there's a word for that, is there? What, wokeness? Yeah. Yeah, that's over. Sorry, folks. Think of that. I need to break out my woke t-shirt sometime. You know, I'd be perfect. Yeah.
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Luckily, it was a really quick one. You know, it was a quick turn, but Doge is uncovering all kinds of costs, cutting out jobs. And people that, and departments, I mean, we're essentially paying people to quit now because of how much inefficiency there is. We're like going, hey, if you'll go quietly. Right. You know. We'll give you a nice severance. Nice severance.
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And it's not like quietly like, oh, because the far is necessarily. But something tells me these people that don't take the check are going to end up out on the cold anyway when these departments fold.
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I've, I've run companies, departments for other, you know, run business for other people and for myself. Um, I've had 100 people underneath me, direct reports and stuff, like five or six, with almost 100 people. I've had 30, 20, and now we run a really lean team. 20 or less. And there's waste in what we do. I know there is.
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So, uh, and not because my people aren't good or they're like lazy or not doing their job. There's just downtime and like, you know, inefficiencies. I know there are, we, we try, I think we're better than most and we try to get them out. So you're not, you're telling me, we know there's a lot of inefficiency going on and a lot of jobs that aren't really jobs that,
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Yeah. What jobs have been replaced in government from AI? I don't see that article. Right. You know? I'm sure we'll hear about it soon. And look, I understand the human impact of this. I am not... vouching for, oh, let's fire everyone and hire robots or train robots.
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I'm not saying that, but I'm saying you either adapt to the market and you tune your skills and what you do to today's market to meet the demands of companies, people, things, to warrant the money you're paid, or you don't. You have that choice. And if you don't, and you're given ample time to prepare and make those choices, you don't just keep getting the check. Sorry. And that's just reality.
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There's things that my marketing agency used to do that AI has replaced. Do you think we've just sat around and not picked up new skill sets, new things, and filled the gap? No. We've had to adjust because... Daddy needs to eat so that he can feed his kids. You know, like you gotta, you gotta take care of the rest of the ship. Yeah. You gotta take care of it. I'm not saying take care of me.
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I'm saying like, I got, we got the company being daddy has to make money to pay and support everything else. And I also have some kids to feed. You know, like you got to adjust. You have to adapt. That's the real the real market. The government's tried to become, OK, act like the real market and do all these things and hire all these people do all these things.
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But they've never had to really do it because they can hide behind all this bureaucracy and have all these jobs that don't really do much of anything. When if you're going to be and collect all this money and do all these things and act like a company, then you get to act and get the pressures that all of us feel every day. Right. Hello. Welcome to 2025. So.
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Again, we can argue or we can agree or we can disagree. Talk about the way it happens. I think right now, I think the sentiment is, okay, it's the way it's happening. We're choosing to point to that, the way that it's going down. But look, radical change, which is needed. We have deficits. We owe a lot of people money. We're printing money. There's issues. Radical change takes radical decisions.
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And so it's going to be messy a little bit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
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Oh, wow. I didn't even know you were like second generation.
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Can't make everybody happy. You know, so right now, I think everybody's battling over the way it's going down. For the most part. They don't like it's happening, too. But they know that they can't go, oh, I'm actually... They're not going to argue that they're actually doing something worth value. They're just going to argue about the way that it's going down.
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Right? So...
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And, hey, who wouldn't want to hold on to their job and their titles and everything they do that serves no purpose but keeps a paycheck in their pocket, right? I guess a lot of people would. I thought this was interesting. Next on the hit list. Next on the hit list. This is too interesting not to bring up next, Chris. Trump says American sovereign wealth fund could acquire TikTok.
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Proud to be an American. We're all immigrants on some level, but hey, we got to do it the right way. That's the whole point, right? Got to have the land of law. Or you have a land of anarchy. The news is becoming a land of seemingly anarchy. Not anarchy. It's just a volume of news. Typically, it goes to show you the difference in administrations, Chris.
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I was an American. I was not aware of the American sovereign wealth fund personally. I don't know if that's new. It's new.
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has essentially had control of TikTok, one of the most powerful social media platforms on the planet. Why shouldn't the US government? why wouldn't we want, you know, why would you rather the Chinese national government or communist government have power versus the U.S.?
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I'd love to fight over that. Come on the show and let's have that argument. Who would you rather? Because... you ain't going to win the argument over if the Chinese communist government controls their business. They do. So we'll start there. So the premise can't be, well, they don't really own it. It's owned by a bike dance. No, no.
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We'll start this battle royale with the acceptance that the Chinese communist government owns and controls their, you know, controls, owns, the businesses that are running their company in their country. And so we'll start there. So you, if you want to have the argument that this is a crazy idea, you're probably 16 and live at home.
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Yeah. I'm going to give you the L depending on which way I need to turn that depending on the camera. We'll say it's that one. That's a lose. That's a loss for you, bud. So, uh, President Donald Trump suggested that a newly created U.S. sovereign wealth fund could acquire TikTok to prevent it from being banned in the U.S. TikTok has until April to find a new non-Chinese owner or face a U.S. ban.
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Trump floated the idea of the U.S. taking a 50% ownership position, possibly with private investors. Establishing a sovereign wealth fund would take time and may not be viable before the deadline. The purchase costs could be in the tens of billions. The U.S. government owns TikTok. It could face First Amendment issues regarding free speech. I mean, again, it's comical.
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I'm reading this to make that, you know, versus the Chinese communist government that now owns it. OK, well, it's not beholden to any of these laws.
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Here's some quotes from users expressing concern. I don't think too many people want to be on a platform that is owned and monitored by the government. But you're OK that it's the Chinese communist government.
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Someone else said it is absolutely effing dystopian. Why is the government owning social media?
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What is the GPA? What is the IQ of the average TikTok user? Like, what is it? Because this is the stupidest fucking quotes I've ever heard. Like, are you kidding me? Are you that blind? Do you know who owns this? Like, this is how stupid the users are. Not all of them. I'm not badmouthing every single person. There's billions of people on the platform. But just, are you kidding? Really?
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There'd be weeks where we do our little pre-call. We get on the phone. What are we going to talk about? What's topical? And now it's like, how many things can we fit in?
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This is what we're talking about? Like, do you understand ByteDance, a Chinese company, and Chinese companies are controlled by the Chinese Communist government. And you're saying dystopian? And you're saying, I don't want a platform that's owned and monitored by the government.
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And I don't know, like... I don't know, like, all the... There's not enough detail here on the ins and outs of the Sovereign Wealth Fund and who manages all that. There's questions to be answered 100%. I'm not saying there's not... A lot of stuff that would need to happen with this to be done the right way.
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But to argue for one minute that it's better off in Chinese communist and government is asinine. So let's just end that there. This is the Royal Rumble. You just got thrown out into the 10th stand like 10 rows deep. You're getting me fired up today. I wasn't even really prepared. Look, busy team. We go through the articles. We know what we're going to talk about. But I hadn't read every quote.
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This is our weekly business news here on April 4th, 2025. Today's headlines, Amazon making an offer for TikTok. Huh, Elon's leaving the position so soon. Hooters filing for bankruptcy. Men everywhere in sadness. OpenAI closes $40 billion in funding, now worth more than McDonald's and Chevron. Those are today's headlines here on the business news of the week.
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The heat dispersion and power alone on these is crazy. But I tell you what, it'll summarize a podcast faster than you can blink an eye. Yeah. Like there's stuff we did three or four years ago that we don't have to do anymore. And so you use it in automating with this and now does tasks and everything else. It's it's scary. Good.
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How how how I felt like I don't know, even a year ago, I felt like when I use these technologies. Like just the basic functionality, it sounded like a. Right. But now you can train these things and get it like ask the right prompts. These prompt engineers, you know, ask. It's kind of like if you want the if you want the right answers, you got to ask the right questions.
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And that's what it is with AI. And if you can start asking questions and training these things and saving things, because you can save it and it's learning and it's getting scary good. Like some of the creatives, both the strategy and the creative. I still think I can out-duel it in a creative writing match, like with thought. But damn, coming to an insight based on data, that is helpful.
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Did a research study for a client, website usage study. Are you kidding? Like summarizing that and kind of extracting a few takeaways for me, like I would have taken me five days of probably like, you know, three hours a day hitting that thing. And it did it in like 30 minutes. Like it gave me some insights. It formulated some things for me. It allowed me to sort of output
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I have the gift of gab, but I have to remember that I don't have these pauses or breaks where I can turn to someone for comedic insight or just maybe smarter things than I have to say. So I appreciate you wherever you are, whenever you are listening. Again, this is our business news of the week. We try to really break down what we think. We do this once a week.
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that human overlay to the data and the inputs that they gave me so quickly that would have taken me, you know, days. And that's what this platform and these things do. And you've got Gronk and you've got all these other variations that are not open AI. But the day is coming. And now it's worth more than a Happy Meal. My kids shed a tear.
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You know, the Happy Meals around the offered house are crazy. Those are your biggest headlines of the week. It's going to be interesting to see how TikTok plays out It's coming, people. It will be interesting. I can already see the memes if we've got to shut down. I don't want that to happen because it impacts a lot of small business, a lot of people, but part of me wants it for the memes.
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The depression factor, though, of every 18 to 24-year-old, and yes, I know, My mom's on it, too. Everybody uses TikTok, or a lot of people's demos do, but let's be honest. It still skews younger, and that vortex goes away. They're not going to know what to do with their time. Maybe move over to Instagram. That's kind of why I've stayed on Instagram. The IG, baby. That's where it's at.
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It's just my platform. I've been on there since 2009, literally when it first came out. Find me at Ryan Alford on there, by the way. Hey, shoot me a DM. Comment on the show. Good, bad, ugly, indifferent. We appreciate it. We'll see what happens. Hooters, Elon, and... Open AI, just raising that cash, baby. Cash. I'm excited about a series we got coming up on the trading cards.
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If you've been watching, we're not opening any cards today. You're going to get blown away. Probably tease one more news episode. I'm going to share some stats that will blow your mind for how big this trading card industry is. Pokemon, NFL cards. The stock market might be going down, but the trading card investment is going up. We're actually recording the first guest in this series today.
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Got one of the hottest companies in sports cards. So a little teaser there. We appreciate you for listening. You can subscribe on YouTube to see the full episode. Again, rate and review on Apple Podcasts and my newsletter at ryanisright.com. Of course, we appreciate you. We can't do this without you. And thank you for making us number one. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
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This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
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We're going to be moving more to this format in the future. But right now, we're trying to break down and bring to you what are those business articles, headlines, and things that really matter to business. We take the BS out of business. So As you know, news changes every day, and it's hard to stay ahead of it sometimes, especially with the current administration.
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But what I try to do is extract the things that seem both interesting, but also potentially impactful for day-to-day business and really small business at the end of the day. My agency works with big, large, and small companies.
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But ultimately, we're trying to extract those things that, hey, you should be paying attention to because maybe it's a national business interest or it could impact you because we do have a lot of entrepreneurs and people getting after it. So, again, we're on YouTube, the full video. Get an interactive experience, a little different than the audio. So check us out there.
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You can always watch it on Spotify as well. And always remember, all of our content is at RyanIsRight.com. You can also check out our newsletter, backslash newsletter, that same thing. But go to RyanIsRight.com. I've made some refreshes. to the site this week and made it a little easier to navigate around and get to the stuff that you want. You can also get our media kit there.
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Thank you.
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That's Saturday by my math. Tomorrow here, this releasing on a Friday. We'll see if that actually happens. But as of recording, Amazon was making a last breaking offer. So it's possible that when you listen to this with the way things move, maybe Amazon buys it. Maybe Trump approves a certain deal. He seems to be willing and dealing.
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And this is why I've been a little like I get a little crazy with all the platforms anyway. I tell clients all the time, you can kind of go nuts with, okay, there's 17 platforms. It can be overwhelming with knowing where to post, where to have impact, where to move the needle for your business. And I always say, get one or two really right before you water it and spread it thin across a ton.
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And for me, having this show, having the reach that we do, all of our accounts are verified and were before you could buy it. But I bring that up to say, I mean, I've got a decent following on TikTok, but I don't even post there that often because most of our audience is between Instagram and LinkedIn or YouTube now.
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This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
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And so, and honestly, this whole thing with getting, not knowing it, I like to sort of build on, Houses that I know aren't going to fall over the next day. And it's just felt like there's been this wave. And I know you can take advantage of any platform, but it is kind of like shadow over TikTok. And I know there's a billion people use it. I know that people are mad about it.
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And it's a great platform for what it is. But at the end of the day, that shadow has kind of kept me from getting too vested in it with all the content and things like that. And I just haven't had time to go down those rabbit holes, man. You get on the platform. It really is addictive. And you get sucked in. They're pretty good with that algorithm.
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And ultimately, that's why I've kind of been in this wait and see approach in telling clients, hey, take advantage of the organic reach while you can. But now not knowing what exactly is going to happen, if it is going to get shut down, because I don't think Trump's playing around. He's going to expect something to happen. I don't think status quo.
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I mean, maybe he extends it for two weeks or something to get a deal done. But I think this is real. Amazon's really interesting. They've got prime video. They've got other things, but they don't really have the social media, you know, network amongst, you know, if I think of the big companies, I don't know, three or four. You've got Google, you've got Facebook, Meta, and you've got Amazon.
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I'd throw Walmart in there as well. Amazon has obviously Prime, and I don't want to discount that. A lot of people watch Prime Video and those things, but they don't have this social media and video component. And that could be, think about Amazon shopping on steroids on TikTok. Yeah. So the integration could be crazy. I mean, TikTok shop and all that stuff's already kind of taken off.
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But if you mix that in with the infrastructure of Amazon, It gets real interesting. I mean, I can see it now. You're going down the rabbit hole in two swipes. Anything you want is at your fingertips with Amazon built into TikTok. That could be interesting. Don't know if it's going to happen, but it certainly makes sense. I can see why Amazon would want the portfolio.
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All that data, the number of people who use it, time on site. Integrate that in with shopping and prime shipping in that experience. Oh, and hey, be verified, but let's make prime even better. You're prime verified. I go down a lot of holes for integration on this thing. And it gets interesting. It's going to be interesting how it all plays out.
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There's been other bits, supposedly Microsoft was in the game. I mean, why wouldn't Microsoft want to get in there? Again, this is a data and reach play for all the users and all the attention that's on these platforms. Once you have attention, once you have billions of people using your platform every day, you have attention and you have data and you have knowledge. And that's leverage.
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Because when you have attention, it creates leverage to do what you want to do, to sell things, to market things, to have influence over volumes of data. So, again, interesting. Amazon making an offer might be sold by the time this runs, but those could be the implications. It could be interesting to see Amazon. Verified Prime. You get a blue check and a Prime star or whatever it is.
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Their symbol is the Prime logo in italics or something. Next up, Elon, supposedly leaving his position as Doge, his unelected position. There's been so much uproar. You've had Teslas getting burned, which is bullshit. And all this hate for a guy who's just trying to save the country some money. And yeah, we can get on the road. It's self-serving. Okay, fine. But you know what?
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He's trying to save the future of our economy and finances. We can't be $50 trillion in debt. what are we going to leave for our children here? $50 trillion in debt and owing China and all these other countries money. And it's unsustainable. And so the guy's been trying to figure that out. I agree he's been kind of like a bull in a china shop.
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I could be that way myself a little bit on a smaller scale. But at least my wife says so. I just walk around the house. I'm a big dude. I bump into shit. It's like, oh, you know, I did it. I mean, that's kind of like Elon here. He's bumping into lots of stuff and nobody likes layoffs. Nobody likes the negative news, but also don't like 50 trillion in debt.
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Hello.
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So we got to get out of debt so that our currency doesn't go to shit and that we actually can do what we need to do in the future and protect the sanctity of the country and what our best interests are. So but I will say and I can see, you know, Donald and Elon are not idiots. They know and have seen the polarization that this has caused. I also have wondered the same thing.
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my home, born and raised. I've lived in Manhattan, ventured to Chicago and LA and well-traveled, but we're here in G Vegas, as we call it. It's social house, my social club and lounge and co-work space, mixed use. Come see us on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in the beautiful city of Greenville anytime. And we're just pumped to be here as always. You got to Numero uno today.
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Like, has Elon running his own company? You know, like he's got one of the largest companies in the world. Value wise, multiple got SpaceX, got Tesla. And I don't know how he's running the government, too. I mean, not running the government, but running the government efficiency department. So...
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I think, though, if it's causing the polarization and Elon needs to take care of business at home, it's probably the best thing. He's probably enacting things, shook things up. And look, that's what we need to do. It is status quo central in Washington.
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I don't agree with every single move that Donald Trump makes, but I agree with shaking it up and making us think a little differently because the same you keep doing the same, you get the same results. And it hasn't changed. You've got these stalwarts in Washington that have been in these positions for years.
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At the end of the day, they're all fighting for their own power and their own position and their own right to have cocktails and fly out of Washington how many times a month. That's what it seems like. I know that there are some patriots in there. I know that it's not that simple. But this is what happened when you put changemakers in positions to make stuff happen.
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You know, I can appreciate I'm a man of action. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But we got to make stuff happen. Like, it just can't be theory. We've been in this theory mode in the U.S. government for I don't know how long. You know, it would be great if we drain the swamp and it would be wonderful if we save some money and got out of debt.
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And then every other president is adding three trillion a day, something like that. And these numbers get tossed around. It's real fucking money. And it is time for us to make some tough choices and tough decisions. And so I don't like that it impacts people's jobs.
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But what I'm not going to tolerate, what no Americans tolerate is people collecting checks for dead people for Social Security or fraudulently ripping off the government. which means us, by the way, taxpayers. Sometimes I think we create this facade in our heads that there's the separation between our pocketbooks and what the US government is. No, we fund it.
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It's called taxes in everything we do. Gas, purchases, groceries, everything. And when you turn your blind eye to this, you're paying more taxes one way or another. And so it hurts the bottom line. It hurts the money in the market. And it's part of the reason, you know, we've got some of the challenges that we do right now. So you've got to have that, those cuts.
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So we'll see what happens with Elon, you know, happily married man and haven't been to a Hooters in a while, but I, but I, I saw this article and, you know, it felt like business news to me, just of interest. I mean, I need it. I feel like the man of the people, I got to let people know the Hooters has filed for bankruptcy. Uh, And the headline kind of made me chuckle.
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Joel, our producer, I think it did the same for him. He was looking at, he kind of had that same look as I did. He was like, I was like, it said Hooters falls for bankruptcy, but they plan to stay afloat. And I added a little bit of even more fun. You know, I was like, hopefully the market start perking up and we'll be good. Sorry. It's easy. Dad jokes and low hanging fruit.
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But definitely some tears being shed across the nation. I mean, it's sort of a mainstay, isn't it? Sort of in the, I don't know, the viewpoint of America. The Hooters bars, you know? And I will say this. This might be controversial. I think their wings are good. They're different. They're a little different than a traditional Buffalo wing. I'll admit. They got the breading on them.
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But I enjoy a Hooters wing. And I hope that everyone can appreciate that. But Hooters says they are actually going to stay in business. They're refiling some things, doing some things. It's always funny to me. I guess you come up early in your career and you always think, well, if someone's filing for bankruptcy... that means they're going out of business. But not anymore.
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I haven't done monologue, single, by solo, by myself without a guest or Chris, who's taking care of some business here today on record day down in Miami. He's got some big things going on. And so just me on the mic, but it's kind of fun. I haven't done it in a while. I've got to remember that to carry all the audio, so bear with me a bit.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News That Matters: Amazon Bid for TikTok - Elon Musk Leaving DOGE - Hooters Needs to Perk Up - OpenAI Worth More than McDonald's
File for bankruptcy, restructure, and hopefully we can keep the Hooters afloat as they plan to. We'll see. Open AI. It's worth more than McDonald's. That's hard to believe to me. I get it because I know how big these companies are and I know how impactful AI is. So it's less that I'm not wrapping my head around AI, but more that it's worth more than McDonald's this fast.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News That Matters: Amazon Bid for TikTok - Elon Musk Leaving DOGE - Hooters Needs to Perk Up - OpenAI Worth More than McDonald's
This technology is not that old. That's how fast it's moving. Different integrations. I'll tell you what, though. If you aren't using AI, you aren't using ChatGPT, dude, you got to get, like, come on. It's time to. I tell people all the time, jobs aren't going away. It's just there's going to be people that know how to use AI and they're more efficient and more fast and the ones that don't.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News That Matters: Amazon Bid for TikTok - Elon Musk Leaving DOGE - Hooters Needs to Perk Up - OpenAI Worth More than McDonald's
And those people's jobs will go away. at least in the short term. Long term, it's going to have bigger implications, but in the short term, that's the reality. Because while you're slow and not using that AI, someone else is, is moving faster, quicker, making educated decisions, using strategy, doing work, not doing tedious work that you're still doing and doing it faster.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News That Matters: Amazon Bid for TikTok - Elon Musk Leaving DOGE - Hooters Needs to Perk Up - OpenAI Worth More than McDonald's
So that's what you're up against. So you got to learn that. And this is why OpenAI, you know, with users and data and all this stuff and technology and infrastructure, it is worth more than McDonald's. It's funny to me like this, like when you close, like it closes $40 billion in funding. So they raised $40 billion. but they're worth more than McDonald's.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News That Matters: Amazon Bid for TikTok - Elon Musk Leaving DOGE - Hooters Needs to Perk Up - OpenAI Worth More than McDonald's
So you're raising money and it makes you worth more than something else. And I get it. Somebody's going to DM me and Ryan, you have where this stuff works. I know how it works, but it's still funny to me that the value it's like, well, if I could raise what's whatever, what's McDonald's value. Let's say McDonald's is worth, I don't know, $500 million, 500 billion. Excuse me.
Right About Now with Ryan Alford
Business News That Matters: Amazon Bid for TikTok - Elon Musk Leaving DOGE - Hooters Needs to Perk Up - OpenAI Worth More than McDonald's
Don't think it's that I'm just making up numbers here, by the way. Well, I can go raise $501 billion. Does that make my company more valuable than others? I guess, because I got cash. But it's just interesting. You raise money to make your company worth more and to go invest. And look, that $40 billion might be just paying the power bill. You know how much power these things generate?