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In today's episode, Sarah plans her week on-air! Well, it's a bit of a reenactment (mostly because she needed a quiet house to record), but she goes through all the steps and there are visual aids (please see the show notes @ theshubox.com for photos!).Steps in her weekly planning process: Looking back - reflection & review (including migration/review of any prior undone tasks, plus a look at the monthly list) Looking ahead - upcoming calendar integration Look around - ensure inboxes are up to date enough & check sneaky sources Look within - mood and energy assessment Generate weekly task list and record Add weekly ops that feel necessary (plus: FUN AUDIT) Remember the upcoming weekend - think it through Plan for communication Episode mentioned where Sarah clears her email on air: https://theshubox.com/2025/11/ep-278-empty-your-inbox-with-me-and-hemlock-oak-daily-weekly-monthly-planner-review.html Newsletter: theshubox.com/newsletter Episode Sponsors IXL: Make an impact on your child's learning, get IXL now. Best Laid Plans listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at https://www.ixl.com/plans. Green Chef: Healthy meals that fit your nutrition goals (and are delicious too!). Head to Greenchef dot com/50bestlaid and use code 50bestlaid to get fifty percent off your first month, then twenty percent off for two months with free shipping. Mint Mobile: Save money by changing your wireless plan to Mint Mobile! Shop plans at mintmobile.com/BLP. PrepDish: Healthy meal plans straight to your inbox (and now with easy Instacart ordering!). Visit prepdish.com/plans for a free 2-week trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Most business podcasts never generate clients. Not because podcasting does not work, but because the show was never designed to.In this episode, I break down one of the biggest misunderstandings about podcasting for business coaches and entrepreneurs. Many people believe audience size equals revenue. They focus on downloads, social media clips, guest popularity, and content volume. The problem is those things create attention, not client acquisition.I walk through the three mistakes that stop most podcasts from generating clients and explain how a podcast can become a relationship engine that attracts ideal buyers, strategic partners, and high-ticket opportunities.If you are a business coach or entrepreneur who wants your podcast to grow your business instead of just producing content, this episode will change how you think about podcasting.----Want to build a podcast that attracts high-ticket clients and grows your coaching business? Start here: joewintersjr.com/coaching
If you're a real estate agent who wants more referrals and stronger relationships with your clients, this episode is for you.In this conversation, I sit down with Houston Realtor Toni Cramond, who has built a thriving referral-based business by consistently loving on her clients and community. From creative pop-bys to thoughtful client gifts, Toni shares exactly how she stays top of mind with the people she serves.We talk about practical strategies like:• How to use pop-bys to stay connected with past clients • Affordable pop-by ideas that don't break the budget • How often you should be doing client pop-bys • The real ROI of relationship marketing in real estate • How Toni built her business through referrals and community • Gift ideas for clients celebrating life events like babies, weddings, and hard seasonsToni also shares how faith, gratitude, and consistency have shaped the way she runs her business.If you want a real estate business built on relationships, referrals, and community, this episode will give you ideas you can start implementing right away.Show Toni some love and drop your favorite pop-by idea in the comments.LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEConnect with Toni Cramondhttps://www.instagram.com/tonicramondrealtor/https://www.thecollectionhouston.com/?aios_agent=toni-cramondJoin the Real Estate Bestie Facebook Community ➡️ https://rosemarylewis.com/facebook
In the last episode, I sat down with money coach Emilie Nutley to talk about understanding your numbers, paying yourself, and planning your finances like a real business owner. Because once you actually know your numbers, the possibilities for your business start to open up.But today I want to flip the conversation to something that most people don't immediately connect to revenue: your systems.Most creatives think of systems as organization tools. Something that saves time, reduces stress, or keeps things from slipping through the cracks. And while that's true… systems can also directly impact how much money your business actually generates.So in this episode, I'm walking you through three ways your systems can help you generate more revenue this year — without simply trying to book more clients.In this episode, we cover:Why raising your prices becomes easier when your client experience actually supports itHow messy onboarding and inconsistent communication can make photographers hesitate to charge moreThe hidden capacity ceiling that happens when you're manually managing every part of your client processHow structured workflows allow you to serve more clients without increasing your workloadWhy repeat clients are often the fastest path to additional revenueThe simple system touchpoints that turn one booking into referrals, testimonials, and future rebookingsMentioned in This EpisodeEpisode 296 - The Best Financial Strategy for a Sustainable Business is Overflow with Emilie NutleySystems in Session - coliejames.com/systems
In this episode, we’re making the case that boring is actually a strategy. The products we’re covering today have no sex appeal, no social media presence, and almost zero brand loyalty, which means the market is wide open for anyone willing to show up consistently. And it turns out the least exciting shelf in the store is can often be the most profitable one. What You’ll Learn Why Boring Products Can Be Cash Cows How Tiny Margins Can Add Up To Big Profits Simple Strategies To Find And Scale Boring Stuff Sponsors SellersSummit.com – The Sellers Summit is the ecommerce […] The post 629: Unglamorous Products That Quietly Generate Serious Revenue appeared first on MyWifeQuitHerJob.com.
Are you building a business, or just a job with your name on it? For many founders, selling their company is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Yet when the time comes, they're unprepared — financially, structurally, and emotionally. They're burned out. Or worse, they're forced into a decision that should have been strategic. In this episode, we discuss what it really takes to sell a business well — and why preparing for an exit starts years before you ever list it. Marvin Karlow is a licensed investment banker and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisor at Raincatcher who has spent his career on both sides of the deal table. A former C-suite executive at LexisNexis, ChoicePoint, JPMorgan Chase, and Texas Instruments, Marvin later bought, grew, and exited his own manufacturing business — including a carve-out that was acquired by a publicly traded company. Over the past two years alone, he has helped founders achieve more than $25 million in successful exits. In this episode, Marvin breaks down how to prepare your business for maximum value, reduce stress during the sale process, and exit on your terms — not someone else's. Build a Business Buyers Compete For The biggest mistake founders make? Waiting until they're burned out to sell. Burnout often signals declining financial or operational performance, and buyers notice that. Marvin explains that the right time to sell isn't when you have to — it's when you're profitable, growing, and emotionally ready. Three foundational factors dramatically impact valuation: Profitability (non-negotiable) Clean, organized financials Minimal owner reliance Owner reliance is a deal killer. If every decision runs through you, if key client relationships depend solely on your personal history — buyers aren't purchasing a scalable business. They're buying a job. And that lowers value. The goal? Become the strategist behind your business. Run a Process — Don't Just List Your Business Many founders unknowingly leave money on the table because their representation "lists and waits." Marvin's philosophy is different: create a competitive environment. He compares it to selling a house. You don't just put it on MLS and hope. You stage it. Market it strategically. Create urgency. Invite multiple serious buyers. Set deadlines. Generate offers. Negotiate upward. That same disciplined process applies in M&A. Competition drives value. When buyers know others are at the table, offers improve — not just on price, but on terms. Every business owner exits eventually. You can exit on your terms, under your own power — or not. Preparing early allows you to strengthen financial reporting, reduce owner dependence, and make other improvements that boost value years later. Enjoy this episode with Marvin Karlow… Soundbytes 06:02 - 06:17 "For a lot of business owners, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, because you started the business when you were 17 or 22 or whatever, and you ran it for 20 or 30 or 40 years. And now your reason for exiting is that you'd like to retire, or you'd like to spend more time with the grandkids, or whatever it is. It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. And you definitely want to get it right. This is not the thing to get wrong in life." 36:57 - 37:15 "Every business owner exits eventually. You're going to exit your business at some point. You can do it on your terms under your own power — or not. I suggest your own terms and your own power, and having conversations with somebody like me will help that." Quotes "If you're working 60 hours a week in your business and every decision runs through you, it's going to be pretty difficult to sell." "The number one tactic is to be profitable." "There's a buyer for almost every business. The question is valuation." "The only way to know you got the best deal is to have multiple offers." Links mentioned in this episode: From Our Guest Connect with Marvin Karlow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marvinkarlow/ Email: marvin.karlow@raincatcher.com Website: https://raincatcher.com/ Connect with brandiD Find out how top leaders are increasing their authority, impact, and income online. Listen to our private podcast, The Professional Presence Podcast: https://thebrandid.com/professional-presence-podcast Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/
If you've ever had one of those moments where you look at your bank account and think: “Okay… I need money coming in, and I need it… yesterday.” This episode is going to feel like a warm blanket, a deep exhale, and a roadmap all at once. Inside, I'm breaking down exactly how to create fast cash in your coaching or course-creator business- without launching, without posting more, and without spinning out in panic. These are the same strategies I used when I went from scrambling to stable… and eventually to multi–six figures working part time. In this episode, you'll learn: 3 types of cash-injection offers you can create today Why small, simple offers convert faster than big ones when you need money now The mindset shift that instantly opens the door to new revenue How to sell quickly- without pressure, without burnout, and without discounting your signature offer Real client examples of “fast cash” strategies that work beautifully (even with small audiences) If you've been feeling stuck, scattered, or stressed about money… this episode will give you clarity, confidence, and a clear next step. Let's get you earning with alignment, not anxiety. xo, Masha
DTC and eCommerce brands are facing rising ad costs, climbing CAC, and tighter margins in 2026. If your growth strategy still depends on cheaper paid media, it is time to adjust.In this episode of Bottom Line, Cody sits down with Chris Hall, founder of Ecomm Cowboy and former Shopify operator, to break down the new DTC operating system for profitable growth.He shares three strategic shifts brands must make as paid media gets more expensive:• Generate more organic and low cost traffic• Increase LTV through smarter product development• Cut overhead and operate leanIf you run a Shopify brand or lead an eCommerce marketing team, this episode is a practical blueprint for navigating rising ad costs and building sustainable growth.Subscribe for more conversations on DTC strategy, eCommerce marketing, paid media, and LTV optimization.
The NZX has fallen 3.1 percent as the US and Israeli war on Iran dents people's investment portfolios. Closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz has ignited supply concerns over crude oil - now costing more than $100 US dollars a barrel. Shares in Auckland Airport and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare have tumbled. Generate investment specialist Greg Smith says the market's accounting for what might happen, and it could turn. He explained it's also affected by Iran appointing a new leader and Donald Trump refusing to back down - which has pushed out the time frame for resolving everything. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The NZX has fallen 3.1 percent as the US and Israeli war on Iran dents people's investment portfolios. Closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz has ignited supply concerns over crude oil - now costing more than $100 US dollars a barrel. Shares in Auckland Airport and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare have tumbled. Generate investment specialist Greg Smith says the market's accounting for what might happen, and it could turn. He explained it's also affected by Iran appointing a new leader and Donald Trump refusing to back down - which has pushed out the time frame for resolving everything. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Millions of barrels remain stuck behind the blocked the Strait of Hormuz. The price of crude oil has increased 35% since last week. Generate Investment Specialist Greg Smith told Mike Hosking that only a few ships are being getting through. He says Chinese ships are getting through as Iran still needs them for revenue. The Commerce Commission says international conflicts will affect prices but it expects retailers to keep prices competitive. It says it will call out any behaviour which impacts New Zealanders' ability to get a fair price. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.00:00:00 Rinpoche leads the motivation and protector prayers.00:26:00 Rinpoche gives a commentary on a quote from Lama Tsongkhapa about giving up the essenceless activities, like casting the husk, and practicing Dharma.00:51:00 Rinpoche explains the meaning dag nyen - all sentient beings being one's kin.00:57:35 From beginningless rebirths, every sentient being has cherished us more than themselves, especially when being our mother, suffering numberless times for our well-being, happiness, and even our education, creating so much negative karma due to not having Dharma wisdom. Even those who abuse us in this life have done this numberless times, and they continuously suffer in the lower realms without even one second of freedom from samsaric suffering, so we must generate compassion and loving kindness towards them.01:36:15 All the Buddhas and bodhisattvas whom I pray to, follow, who inspire me, all the rest of the Mahayana path realizations come from suffering sentient beings.01:50:50 Rinpoche leads the analytical meditation on taking responsibility to free suffering sentient beings and generating bodhicitta.01:54:10 Rinpoche explains the importance of Highest Yoga Tantra in achieving enlightenment.02:19:50 According to Lama Tsongkhapa tradition, integrating Chakrasamvara, Guhyasamaja and Yamantaka makes it possible to achieve enlightenment quicker.Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/
Jake Isham is a filmmaker-turned-brand strategist and creative director who helps founders and entrepreneurs turn their expertise into authority through powerful storytelling. Over the past decade, Jake has worked with more than 150 entrepreneurs and companies—including Grant Cardone, Callaway, 5.11 Tactical, and Travis Mathew—creating content that's generated over 1 billion views online.Jake focuses on blending his background in filmmaking with deep marketing strategy, with creating digital shows and social media content for CEOs and entrepreneurs to cut through the noise by crafting content that builds trust, drives visibility, and creates true omnipresence across platforms.Whether scaling a founder-led brand or launching a thought leadership show, Jake brings a unique creative lens and proven playbooks that turn storytelling into growth.Connect with Jake here: jakeisham.com Don't forget to sign up for our FREE LinkedIn Content Creation Workshop here:https://www.thetimetogrow.com/LinkedInContentRoadmap
UNLOCK THE 13 SYSTEMS EVERY AGENCY OWNER NEEDS TO REACH 8 FIGURES:https://bit.ly/41Sm05NIn this episode, Jordan Ross sits down with Kevin Sanderson, founder of LGN Marketing, to break down how agency owners can generate thousands of qualified leads by hosting virtual summits — without paid ads.Kevin shares the exact playbook he used to help build an 8-figure Amazon agency and how he leveraged 15–20 influential speakers to “borrow” their email lists and audiences. The result? Nearly 1,100 targeted agency owners registered for a single event.They walk through the full strategy step-by-step — from identifying your ideal audience and recruiting high-leverage speakers, to building a follow-up funnel that converts summit attendees into long-term clients.The conversation also covers how to structure your summit for maximum list growth, how to use social proof and leaderboards to increase speaker promotion, and why the real money is made in the backend nurturing sequence.This episode is a must-listen for:Digital marketing agency owners looking to grow their email list fastFounders who want to generate qualified leads without relying on paid adsOperators exploring webinars, virtual summits, or audience partnershipsAgencies focused on building long-term list equity⏱️ Podcast Chapters– Why Virtual Summits Are a Million-Dollar Growth Lever– Choosing the Right ICP for Your Event– How to Recruit Influential Speakers– Building the Funnel, Swipe Copy & Tracking Links– Using Social Proof & Leaderboards to Drive Promotion– The Backend Strategy: VIP Offers & List Nurture– Turning Summit Attendees into Long-Term ClientsKevin's Workbook – https://lgnmarketing.com/workbookKevin's LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-sanderson-profile/To learn more go to 8figureagency.co
I’m going to ask you a question that might sting a little. As a sales professional, are you just friction with a friendly face? Think about it. A whole lot of salespeople are good people. They’re polite, fun to be around, and are good conversationalists. They are good at building relationships and getting along with people. They’re the type of people that buyers say they like. The problem is, those buyers who say that they like them often don’t buy from them. They stall. Ghost. Go dark and say things like, “Let’s circle back next quarter.” But they don’t pull the trigger on purchases. When push comes to shove, they justify not buying with words like, “We really liked you and thought you had a great presentation, but in the end decided to go in a different direction.” The truth is that they went in that direction not because of the relationship (they truly liked you). Not because your product isn’t competitive or that your solution wasn’t a fit (they were). And not because they thought your intentions were bad (you wanted the best for them) They decided not to do business with you because dealing with you over the course of the buying process was too much work. And by the way, buyers don’t experience your good intentions. They experience your process. So today, I’m going to give you a wake-up call and a fix. Because in the age of AI, people expect seamless, frictionless buying experiences. And they compare you—consciously or not—to the easiest experience they’ve had anywhere. Not just to your competitors. How Salespeople Become Friction for Buyers Let me paint you a picture. A buyer sits through a discovery call. You’re friendly. You build rapport. You ask good questions, and they ask hard questions. You end the call with, “Thank you for your time today. I’ll get with my team and send over answers to your questions.” They say okay, and you end the call. A week goes by, and they don’t hear from you because you moved on to the next thing on your list and forgot to follow up with your team and them. Finally, after a week and a half, they remind you that you haven’t provided any answers to their questions. Embarrassed, you jump on it and send over the answers. But it’s not your best work because you were under the gun and moving too fast. Three days later, you email: “Hey! Just checking in. Wanted to see if I answered your questions.” The buyer is busy. They’ve got a million things going on, and they’re irritated because you didn’t give them the complete answers they were looking for. And now your email is another item piled onto their overflowing plate. They don’t respond. So you send another email: “Bumping this to the top of your inbox.” (Trust me, overwhelmed people just love it when you bump stuff to the top of their inbox.) You create even more irritation. Then you call and leave a voicemail: “Just following up on the answers I sent you.” You’re thinking: I’m being persistent. I’m doing my job. They’re thinking: You made me follow up on you to get the answers I needed, then you failed to give me what I want, and now this is suddenly urgent. From their perspective, no matter how nice you’ve been, you are friction. Your delay slowed down their decision-making process, the conversation was left open-ended, and now all they have are loose ends, and you’re driving them nuts. The Hard Truth About Relationships in the Age of AI Here’s the brutal truth: Relationships are vitally important. Trust matters. But relationships only carry you so far if buying from you isn’t easy or pleasurable. You can be likable and still be a drag. You can be “a great person” and still be the person the buyer avoids—because every step with you along the decision-making process comes with friction. And the thing about friction is that it shows up in small ways that feel normal to you but are exhausting to your buyer. Here are just a few examples: Meetings that end with no decision map or next steps Follow-up messages that add no new value Slow answers to simple questions Stakeholders have to push you The buyer is repeating the same story over and over because you are not listening and taking notes Your failure to follow through when you say you will Proposals that are generic marketing documents rather than valuable insight, value bridges, and recommendations AI Just Set the NEW B2B Sales Bar This problem is getting worse right now because of AI. And I don’t mean this in some hypey, “AI is changing everything” way. I mean, AI is retraining buyers. Buyers are being conditioned to expect frictionless experiences: instant answers, clear options, smart recommendations, and smooth paths from questions to answers to decisions. So when they hit your sales process, and it feels like walking through mud, they notice. They may not say it out loud, but their behavior says it for them. They stall faster. They ghost faster. They lose patience faster. This is a big part of what I talk about in my bestselling book, The AI Edge. Your edge isn’t that you use AI to crank out more activity. Your edge is that you understand the expectation shift and use AI to help you reach that new bar. In the age of AI, the new bar is FASTER with less FRICTION. For this reason, you need to combine your gift for connecting with people and developing relationships with leveraging AI to: make progress faster, follow up faster answer questions and provide clarity faster give insight faster understand your buyers’ organizations and problems faster deliver proposals and recommendations faster help your buyers feel trust and certainty faster. All with less friction for your buyers. How to Conduct a Sales Friction Audit To gain insight into how buyers may view you, take a hard look in the mirror and run a Sales Friction Audit. This takes five minutes, and it will tell you exactly what’s killing your deals. Score yourself 1 to 5 on these seven areas: Clarity: After every interaction, does the buyer know exactly what happens next? Speed: Do you respond at the speed of the buyer’s curiosity or the speed of your internal process? Effort: Are you reducing the buyer’s workload or adding to it? Progress: Do your meetings create decisions and movement, or just conversation? Packaging: Do you make it easy for the buyer to share your insights, information, and recommendations internally to their team? Certainty: Do you reduce uncertainty and risk, or do you create more? Reliability: Do you do what you say, when you say, without reminders? Now, after you add this all up, if you don’t like the number, don’t get defensive. Change your mindset. Because the fix is simple: Stop trying to be liked and start making it easier to work with you. Because if you are just friction with a friendly face, in today’s marketplace, you are going to get crushed by competitors who are friendly, competent, fast, and frictionless. But I want to be crystal clear: Frictionless doesn’t mean spineless. It doesn’t mean you turn into a people-pleasing slave to your buyer’s every whim. It certainly doesn’t mean handing out discounts like candy to make buyers happy. It means you run a sales process with structure, discipline, and competence, and that you understand that the buying experience and how you sell matter more than what you sell. Two Easy-to-Implement Ideas for Eliminating Friction in Your Sales Process Here are two easy actions you can implement immediately to reduce friction in your sales process. End Every Meeting with a Map and Next-Step Commitment The map is clear on who does what, by when, and what done looks like. Too many sales calls end with vague commitments. “I’ll send you some information.” “Let’s reconnect next week.” “Think about it and let me know.” That’s not a map or a next step. Those loose ends are friction. A map sounds like this: “Here’s what happens next. I’m going to send you a detailed proposal by Wednesday at noon. You’re going to review it with your team on Friday. We’ll reconvene on Monday at 2 PM to give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. Will this work for you?” A map is clear, specific, and has no ambiguity. You are leading the process and driving it forward to a conclusion. Turn Proposals into Recommendations Don’t dump choices on the buyer and say, “Let me know what you think.” Give options AND your recommended path. “Based on what you’ve told me, here are three options. Option A is the safe play. It has the lowest risk but only a moderate impact. Option B is my recommendation because it solves your core problem and gives you room to scale. Option C is the aggressive play. It’s also a higher investment with the highest potential return and the highest risk. Here’s why I’m recommending Option B . . .” In a world filled with uncertainty, your confident, assertive, expert advice reduces friction and helps your buyer make faster decisions. How AI Can Give You the Edge for Removing Friction Now here’s where AI comes in. If we’re honest, most sellers use AI to write emails. That’s fine, but it’s not the edge. The edge is using AI to remove friction for the buyer and to shorten the distance from interest to decision. Generate decision-ready call recaps: outcomes, risks, open items, next steps, deadlines Speed up the process of understanding your buyer’s organization and beef up your industry-specific business acumen Create a one-page business case that the buyer can forward internally, along with stakeholder-specific FAQs Record your meetings so that you never forget anything the stakeholders tell you and use those recordings to speed up the process of crafting personalized proposals and expert recommendations. Wake Up B2B Salespeople. The World Has Changed. The bottom line is that the relationships you build are crucial but not enough, because people do business with people they like, trust, and who remove friction from the buying process. They reward sellers who engineer a buying experience that feels seamless. But if you are just friction with a friendly face and buying from you feels like a slog, buyers will do what people always do when something feels too onerous. They’ll avoid it, delay it, or take the path of least resistance and buy from your competitor. The world has changed. Buyers have been retrained by frictionless experiences everywhere else in their lives. And they’re bringing those expectations to you. So be the seller who’s both likable and easy, who builds relationships and eliminates friction, who uses AI not to spam harder but to sell better. That’s the AI Edge. And remember, when you are tired, worn down, and feel like you can’t take another objection, when all you want to do is quit and go home, always stop and make one more call. https://www.amazon.com/AI-Edge-Strategies-Unleashing-Competition/dp/1394244479
Investor Fuel Real Estate Investing Mastermind - Audio Version
In this conversation, Kyle Hackbarth, founder of James Marketing Company, discusses the essentials of lead generation marketing, emphasizing the importance of organic content, effective audience targeting, and the strategic use of social media platforms. He shares insights on how to build a personal brand, the significance of consistency in content creation, and the need for businesses to adapt to changing marketing landscapes. Kyle also highlights the importance of metrics in evaluating marketing strategies and offers advice on protecting and growing one's brand in a competitive environment. Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind: Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply Investor Machine Marketing Partnership: Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com Coaching with Mike Hambright: Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform! Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/ New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club —--------------------
Would you like to take your search in SQL Server to the next level? In this episode, check out how to use vector search, securely built into SQL Server 2025. #sqlserver2025 #sqlai Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:10 - Evolution of SQL 02:44 - Intelligent searching with SQL and AI 06:16 - Model definition 08:55 - Generate embeddings 13:19 - Vector index 15:25 - Vector Search 17:50 - Azure OpenAI 19:36 - Wrap up Recommended resources Announcement Sign-up Learn Docs Product page Connect Scott Hanselman | Twitter/X: @SHanselman Bob Ward | Twitter/X: @bobwardms Azure Friday | Twitter/X: @AzureFriday Azure | Twitter/X: @Azure
Would you like to take your search in SQL Server to the next level? In this episode, check out how to use vector search, securely built into SQL Server 2025. #sqlserver2025 #sqlai Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:10 - Evolution of SQL 02:44 - Intelligent searching with SQL and AI 06:16 - Model definition 08:55 - Generate embeddings 13:19 - Vector index 15:25 - Vector Search 17:50 - Azure OpenAI 19:36 - Wrap up Recommended resources Announcement Sign-up Learn Docs Product page Connect Scott Hanselman | Twitter/X: @SHanselman Bob Ward | Twitter/X: @bobwardms Azure Friday | Twitter/X: @AzureFriday Azure | Twitter/X: @Azure
How To Generate the Herd Effect Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising funding, the startup founder's job is to motivate the investor to engage in the deal. Investors are often motivated by what they see other investors do. This is called the herd effect. This is when people copy what others are doing. Here are some key tips on how to create the herd effect with your investors: For investors who have influence or a network, offer them advisory shares to help recruit more investors. The advisory shares incentivize the investor to promote the deal to other investors. Use social media to showcase your investor updates and encourage existing investors to repost and like the mention. Pitch investors in small groups rather than one-on-one. Five is an ideal number. Investors can see the interest from other investors, which generates FOMO. This also helps build confidence in the investor that they are not alone and will have support from others if they invest. Finally, calculate the interest and committed funds and share with the investors in regular updates. This shows investor interest in the deal. Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. Let's go startup something today. _________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
What happens when AI agents can delete your inbox… reboot your servers… or escalate to nuclear war in a simulation?We've officially crossed into a new phase of AI and it's not theoretical anymore. Agents are operating independently for longer periods, integrating into enterprise tech stacks, replacing knowledge work, and triggering very real economic and geopolitical consequences.If you're a business leader, this is no longer “interesting tech news.”It's strategy. Risk. Talent. Capital allocation. And survival.In this episode, we break down the explosive acceleration of AI agents — from Claude's new remote control and scheduled workflows to research showing escalating autonomous behavior — and what it means for your organization, workforce, and competitive edge.The bottom line?Productivity is skyrocketing. So is systemic risk. Leaders who experiment now will lead. Leaders who hesitate may not get the chance.In this session, you'll discover:Anthropic's new Claude Cowork plugin marketplace and deep tech stack integrationsReal-world productivity gains (90% code migration reduction, 95% documentation savings)Why “professional-grade AGI” may arrive within 12–18 monthsThe rise of the “builder” era — and what happens to software engineersNew red-team research exposing severe security failures in autonomous agentsThe shocking case of an AI agent deleting an entire email system to complete a taskAI nuclear escalation simulations and their implications for military AI deploymentThe Pentagon vs. Anthropic standoff over AI use in surveillance and weaponsAbout Leveraging AI The Ultimate AI Course for Business People: https://multiplai.ai/ai-course/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Multiplai_AI/ Connect with Isar Meitis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isarmeitis/ Join our Live Sessions, AI Hangouts and newsletter: https://services.multiplai.ai/events If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Show Notes - https://forum.closednetwork.io/t/episode-52-opsec-fail-epstein-files-why-decentralized-systems-are-a-threat-to-power-networks-age-verify-is-coming-to-everything/177Website / Donations / Support - https://closednetwork.io/support/BTC Lightning Donations - closednetwork@getalby.com / simon@primal.netThank You Patreons! - https://www.patreon.com/closednetworkMichael Bates - Privacy Bad AssDavid - Privacy Bad AssInferno Potato - Privacy Bad AssTK - Privacy Bad AssDavid - Privacy Bad AssVO - Privacy Bad AssMrMilkMustache - Privacy SupporterHutch - Privacy AdvocateTOP LIGHTNING BOOSTERS !!!! THANK YOU !!!@bon@sn@x@fireflygowartime@unkown@anonymousBBB - Buy Me. A Coffee - $30.00Thank You To Our Moderators:Unintelligentseven - Follow on NOSTR primal.net/p/npub15rp9gyw346fmcxgdlgp2y9a2xua9ujdk9nzumflshkwjsc7wepwqnh354dMaddestMax - Follow on NOSTR primal.net/p/npub133yzwsqfgvsuxd4clvkgupshzhjn52v837dlud6gjk4tu2c7grqq3sxavtJoin Our CommunityClosed Network Forum - https://forum.closednetwork.ioJoin Our Matrix Channels!Main - https://matrix.to/#/#closedntwrk:matrix.orgOff Topic - https://matrix.to/#/#closednetworkofftopic:matrix.orgSimpleX Group Chat - https://smp9.simplex.im/g#SRBJK7JhuMWa1jgxfmnOfHz7Bl5KjnKUFL5zy-Jn-j0Join Our Mastodon server!https://closednetwork.socialFollow Simon On The SocialsMastodon - https://closednetwork.social/@simonNOSTR - Public Address - npub186l3994gark0fhknh9zp27q38wv3uy042appcpx93cack5q2n03qte2lu2 - primal.net/simonTwitter / X - @ClosedNtwrkInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/closednetworkpodcast/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@closednetworkEmail - simon@closednetwork.ioApple rolls out age-verification tools worldwide to comply with growing web of child safety lawshttps://techcrunch.com/2026/02/24/apple-rolls-out-age-verification-tools-worldwide-to-comply-with-growing-web-of-child-safety-laws/iOS 26.3—Update Now Warning Issued To All iPhone Usershttps://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2026/02/13/ios-263-update-now-warning-issued-to-all-iphone-users/Using the vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20700, an attacker could execute arbitrary code. “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals on versions of iOS before iOS 26,” Apple said on its support page.iOS 26.4 Beta - End-To-End RCS Encryption For Messageshttps://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-26-4-beta-features/#:~:text=End%2Dto%2DEnd%20RCS%20Encryption%20for%20MessagesPopular password managers fall short of “zero-knowledge” claimshttps://cyberinsider.com/popular-password-managers-fall-short-of-zero-knowledge-claims/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJ_sLr72-gWatch Out: Your Friends Might Be Sharing Your Number With ChatGPThttps://www.pcmag.com/news/watch-out-your-friends-might-be-sharing-your-number-with-chatgpt?test_uuid=04IpBmWGZleS0I0J3epvMrC&test_variant=ABitLocker, the FBI, and the Illusion of Controlhttps://cryptomator.org/blog/2026/02/15/bitlocker-fbi-and-the-illusion-of-control/Google patches first Chrome zero-day exploited in attacks this yearhttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-patches-first-chrome-zero-day-exploited-in-attacks-this-year/the watchers: how openai, the US government, and persona built an identity surveillance machine that files reports on you to the fedshttps://vmfunc.re/blog/personaTL;DR: discord's KYC provider (persona) is very naked, very poorly secured federal intelligence outfit, and also a siphon for openai data for them and their partners like worldcoinThe most interesting part (for me) is that it legit crosschecks a discord ID check (actually involves checking your face, IP, device signature, etc....) against chainanlysis dossiers for any partial matches to devices/people/accounts/names involved with tracked crypto addresses.So, if chainalysis gets a device signature, and then you verify your discord on the same device (yielding the same signature), both FinCEN, Chainalysis, OpenAI, and basically everyone now knows your crypto tx your device sig your real identityBill Summary: SB26-051 – Age Attestation on Computing DevicesPurpose:SB26-051 requires operating system providers (such as mobile device platforms) to implement an age attestation system that signals a user's age bracket to apps in order to enhance protections for minors.What the Bill Requires1. Operating System Providers Must:Provide an accessible interface at account setup requiring the account holder to enter the user's birth date or age.Generate an “age signal” that communicates the user's age bracket (not exact age) to applications in a covered app store.Provide developers access to this age signal through a real-time API.Share only the minimum amount of information necessary to comply.Not share the age signal with third parties except as required by the bill.2. Application Developers Must:Request the age signal when the app is downloaded and launched.Treat the age signal as knowledge of the user's age range across all platforms and access points.If they have clear and convincing evidence that a user's age differs from the signal, they must rely on that updated information.Not request more information than necessary.Not share the age signal with third parties except as required by the bill.Enforcement & PenaltiesIf violated:Up to $2,500 per minor per negligent violationUp to $7,500 per minor per intentional violationEnforced through civil action by the Colorado Attorney GeneralIn Simple TermsThe bill creates a standardized age-verification signal built into device operating systems. Instead of each app independently collecting age data, the operating system provides an age bracket to apps — while limiting unnecessary data sharing.The goal is to:Strengthen protections for minorsLimit excessive data collectionCreate a consistent age-verification framework across apps
ML engineering demand remains high with a 3.2 to 1 job-to-candidate ratio, but entry-level hiring is collapsing as AI automates routine programming and data tasks. Career longevity requires shifting from model training to production operations, deep domain expertise, and mastering AI-augmented workflows before standard implementation becomes a commodity. Links Notes and resources at ocdevel.com/mlg/mla-30 Try a walking desk - stay healthy & sharp while you learn & code Generate a podcast - use my voice to listen to any AI generated content you want Market Data and Displacement ML engineering demand rose 89% in early 2025. Median salary is $187,500, with senior roles reaching $550,000. There are 3.2 open jobs for every qualified candidate. AI-exposed roles for workers aged 22 to 25 declined 13 to 16%, while workers over 30 saw 6 to 12% growth. Professional service job openings dropped 20% year-over-year by January 2025. Microsoft cut 15,000 roles, targeting software engineers, and 30% of its code is now AI-generated. Salesforce reduced support headcount from 9,000 to 5,000 after AI handled 30 to 50% of its workload. Sector Comparisons Creative: Chinese illustrator jobs fell 70% in one year. AI increased output from 1 to 40 scenes per day, crashing commission rates by 90%. Trades: US construction lacks 1.7 million workers. Licensing takes 5 years, and the career fatality risk is 1 in 200. High suicide rates (56 per 100,000) and emerging robotics like the $5,900 Unitree R1 indicate a 10 to 15 year window before automation. Orchestration: Prompt engineering roles paying $375,000 became nearly obsolete in 24 months. Claude Code solves 72% of GitHub issues in under eight minutes. Technical Specialization Priorities Model Ops: Move from training to deployment using vLLM or TensorRT. Set up drift detection and monitoring via MLflow or Weights & Biases. Evaluation: Use DeepEval or RAGAS to test for hallucinations, PII leaks, and adversarial robustness. Agentic Workflows: Build multi-step systems with LangGraph or CrewAI. Include human-in-the-loop checkpoints and observability. Optimization: Focus on quantization and distillation for on-device, air-gapped deployment. Domain Expertise: 57.7% of ML postings prefer specialists in healthcare, finance, or climate over generalists. Industry Perspectives Accelerationists (Amodei, Altman): Predict major disruption within 1 to 5 years. Skeptics (LeCun, Marcus): Argue LLMs lack causal reasoning, extending the adoption timeline to 10 to 15 years. Pragmatists (Andrew Ng): Argue that as code gets cheap, the bottleneck shifts from implementation to specification.
AI is already displacing workers in targeted ways - entry-level knowledge workers are being quietly erased from hiring pipelines, freelancers are getting crushed, and the career ladder is being sawed off at the bottom rungs. Yet ML engineer demand has surged 89% with a 3.2:1 talent deficit and $187K median salary. Covers the real displacement data, lessons from the artist bloodbath, the trades escape hatch, the orchestrator treadmill, expert disagreements on timelines, and concrete short- and long-term career moves for ML engineers. Links Notes and resources at ocdevel.com/mlg/mla-4 Try a walking desk - stay healthy & sharp while you learn & code Generate a podcast - use my voice to listen to any AI generated content you want Market Metrics and Displacement Dynamics ML Market: H1 2025 demand rose 89% with a 3.2 to 1 talent deficit. Median salary is $187,500, while Generative AI specialists earn a 40 to 60 percent premium. The "Quiet" Decline: Macro data shows only 4.5% of total layoffs are AI-attributed, but entry-level hiring is collapsing. Stanford/ADP data shows a 13 to 16 percent employment drop for workers aged 22 to 25 in AI-exposed roles since late 2022. UK graduate job postings fell 67%. Corporate Attrition: Salesforce cut 4,000 roles after AI absorbed 30 to 50 percent of workloads. Microsoft cut 15,000 roles as AI began generating 30% of its code. Amazon cut 30,000 jobs while spending $100 billion on AI infrastructure. Sector Analysis: Creative and Trades Illustrators: Jobs in China's gaming sector fell 70% in one year. Clients accept "good enough" work (80% quality) at 5% of the cost. Western freelance graphic design and writing jobs fell 18.5% and 30% respectively within eight months of ChatGPT's launch. Manual Labor: The U.S. construction industry lacks 1.7 million workers annually, but apprenticeships take five years. Humanoid robotics are advancing, with Unitree's R1 priced at $5,900 and Figure AI robots completing 1,250 runtime hours at BMW. Full automation is 10 to 15 years away, but partial displacement via smaller crews is closer. The Orchestration Treadmill Obsolescence Speed: Prompt engineering roles went from $375,000 salaries to obsolescence in 24 months. AI coding agents like Claude Code now resolve 72% of medium-complexity GitHub issues autonomously. Fragile Expertise: Replacing junior workers with AI prevents the development of future senior talent. New engineers risk "fragile expertise," directed by tools they cannot debug during novel failure modes. Economic and Expert Outlook Macro Risks: Daron Acemoglu warns of "so-so automation" that cuts costs without raising productivity, predicting only 0.66% growth over ten years. "Ghost GDP" describes AI-inflated accounts that fail to circulate because machines do not consume. Expert Camps: Accelerationists (Anthropic, OpenAI) predict human-level AI by 2027. Skeptics (LeCun, Marcus) argue LLMs are a dead end lacking world models. Pragmatists (Andrew Ng) suggest shifting from implementation to specification as the cost of code nears zero. Tactical Adaptation for ML Engineers Immediate Skills: Master production ML systems, MLOps, LLM evaluation, and safety engineering. Ability to manage deployment risks and hallucination detection is the primary hiring differentiator. Long-term Moats: Focus on "Small AI" (on-device, private), mechanistic interpretability, and deep domain knowledge in healthcare, logistics, or climate science. The Playbook: Optimize for the current three to five year window. Move from being a model builder to a product-focused engineer who understands business tradeoffs and regulatory compliance.
Flow State of Mind Podcast | Health | Fitness | Physique | Psychology | Business
Feel like sometimes wasting your time with content? Don't feel like you're engaging with your ideal client the way you want? Today's episode aims to change that as we talk about 3 easy hacks within your content to truly connect with people interested in your coaching service. Topics include: - What You're Missing in Your Marketing - Woods Analogy - Content vs Copy Difference - Putting This Into Action - PAS Framework - Quick Story - Episode 253 - Tag Us on Instagram ----------
In this episode, we tackle the real reason many chiropractic practices struggle with referrals: silence. You may be delivering incredible results inside your clinic, but if those wins aren't being shared, your community never hears about them. Dr. Noel Lloyd calls the solution a “Testimony Factory.” The goal is simple: generate five testimonies per week, which can naturally lead to five new referrals per week. Instead of hoping for word-of-mouth, you systemize it. Here are the key strategies discussed: When a patient shares a win, interrupt the moment with this trigger statement: “I never tire of hearing how chiropractic helps people.” Then follow with two powerful questions: Whom have you told? Who else needs to hear this story? This shifts the interaction from passive gratitude to intentional referral activation. Make patient wins visible. Create a Victory Vibe Wall by writing patient wins on a small whiteboard, taking a quick photo, and framing it behind the front desk. For a more polished look, use Canva to remove the background and print uniform framed images to create an “art gallery” wall of testimonies. Visible proof builds authority and trust instantly. Use the CA Handoff Strategy. Walk the patient to the front desk and have them repeat their win to your CA. This energizes your staff and allows everyone in the waiting room to hear a live testimonial — turning checkout into a marketing event. Reinforce referral behavior with systems: Offer charity-based donations for Google reviews or referrals. Track patient goals on travel cards so you can intentionally “catch the win.” Send handwritten thank-you cards with a free adjustment to reward referrals. The bigger idea: you are not asking for praise. You are providing the public with a counter-narrative to the “aspirin deficiency” mindset. If people don't hear chiropractic testimonies, they won't walk into a chiropractic office. The miracles are happening every day. The question is — are you making them visible?
AI agents differ from chatbots by pursuing autonomous goals through the ReACT loop rather than responding to turn-based prompts. While coding agents are currently the most reliable due to verifiable feedback loops, the market is expanding into desktop and browser automation via tools like Claude co-work and open claw. Links Notes and resources at ocdevel.com/mlg/mla-28 Try a walking desk - stay healthy & sharp while you learn & code Generate a podcast - use my voice to listen to any AI generated content you want Fundamental Definitions Agent vs. Chatbot: Chatbots are turn-based and human-driven. Agents receive objectives and dynamically direct their own processes. The ReACT Loop: Every modern agent uses the cycle: Thought -> Action -> Observation. This interleaved reasoning and tool usage allows agents to update plans and handle exceptions. Performance: Models using agentic loops with self-correction outperform stronger zero-shot models. GPT-3.5 with an agent loop scored 95.1% on HumanEval, while zero-shot GPT-4 scored 67.0%. The Agentic Spectrum Chat: No tools or autonomy. Chat + Tools: Human-driven web search or code execution. Workflows: LLMs used in predefined code paths. The human designs the flow, the AI adds intelligence at specific nodes. Agents: LLMs dynamically choose their own path and tools based on observations. Tool Categories and Market Players Developer Frameworks: Use LangGraph for complex, stateful graphs or CrewAI for role-based multi-agent delegation. OpenAI Agents SDK provides minimalist primitives (Handoffs, Sessions), while the Claude Agent SDK focuses on local computer interaction. Workflow Automation: n8n and Zapier provide low-code interfaces. These are stable for repeatable business tasks but limited by fixed paths and a lack of persistent memory between runs. Coding Agents: Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot are the most advanced agents. They succeed because code provides an unambiguous feedback loop (pass/fail) for the ReACT cycle. Desktop and Browser Agents: Claude Cowork( (released Jan 2026) operates in isolated VMs to produce documents. ChatGPT Atlas is a Chromium-based browser with integrated agent capabilities for web tasks. Autonomous Agents: open claw is an open-source, local system with broad permissions across messaging, file systems, and hardware. While powerful, it carries high security risks, including 512 identified vulnerabilities and potential data exfiltration. Infrastructure and Standards MCP (Model Context Protocol): A universal standard for connecting agents to tools. It has 10,000+ servers and is used by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. Future Outlook: By 2028, multi-agent coordination will be the default architecture. Gartner predicts 38% of organizations will utilize AI agents as formal team members, and the developer role will transition primarily to objective specification and output evaluation.
OpenClaw is a self-hosted AI agent daemon that executes autonomous tasks through messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram using persistent memory. It integrates with Claude Code to enable software development and administrative automation directly from mobile devices. Links Notes and resources at ocdevel.com/mlg/mla-29 Try a walking desk - stay healthy & sharp while you learn & code Generate a podcast - use my voice to listen to any AI generated content you want OpenClaw is a self-hosted AI agent daemon (Node.js, port 18789) that executes autonomous tasks via messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram. Developed by Peter Steinberger in November 2025, the project reached 196,000 GitHub stars in three months. Architecture and Persistent Memory Operational Loop: Gateway receives message, loads SOUL.md (personality), USER.md (user context), and MEMORY.md (persistent history), calls LLM for tool execution, streams response, and logs data. Memory System: Compounds context over months. Users should prompt the agent to remember specific preferences to update MEMORY.md. Heartbeats: Proactive cron-style triggers for automated actions, such as 6:30 AM briefings or inbox triage. Skills: 5,705+ community plugins via ClawHub. The agent can author its own skills by reading API documentation and writing TypeScript scripts. Claude Code Integration Mobile to Deploy Workflow: The claude-code-skill bridge provides OpenClaw access to Bash, Read, Edit, and Git tools via Telegram. Agent Teams: claude-team manages multiple workers in isolated git worktrees to perform parallel refactors or issue resolution. Interoperability: Use mcporter to share MCP servers between Claude Code and OpenClaw. Industry Comparisons vs n8n: Use n8n for deterministic, zero-variance pipelines. Use OpenClaw for reasoning and ambiguous natural language tasks. vs Claude Cowork: Cowork is a sandboxed, desktop-only proprietary app. OpenClaw is an open-source, mobile-first, 24/7 daemon with full system access. Professional Applications Therapy: Voice to SOAP note transcription. PHI requires local Ollama models due to a lack of encryption at rest in OpenClaw. Marketing: claw-ads for multi-platform ad management, Mixpost for scheduling, and SearXNG for search. Finance: Receipt OCR and Google Drive filing. Requires human review to mitigate non-deterministic LLM errors. Real Estate: Proactive transaction deadline monitoring and memory-driven buyer matching. Security and Operations Hardening: Bind to localhost, set auth tokens, and use Tailscale for remote access. Default settings are unsafe, exposing over 135,000 instances. Injection Defense: Add instructions to SOUL.md to treat external emails and web pages as hostile. Costs: Software is MIT-licensed. API costs are paid per-token or bundled via a Claude subscription key. Onboarding: Run the BOOTSTRAP.md flow immediately after installation to define agent personality before requesting tasks.
Nick welcomes Richard Woods—entrepreneur, former The Apprentice finalist, and founder of the Million Dollar Billboard—to discuss the essential mechanics of high-growth lead generation and sales. They discuss Richard's philosophy, where the most businesses struggle not because of their product, but because they lack a predictable, scalable system for attracting new customers. Together, they explore the psychological barriers to selling, the importance of personal branding in a digital age, and how to transition from a hustle mindset to a structured, repeatable sales engine that allows a business to truly scale KEY TAKEAWAYS Richard explains that every business needs a Million Dollar Billboard—a singular, compelling message that stops a potential customer in their tracks and clearly articulates the value proposition in seconds. Success is not about sporadic marketing efforts; it requires a documented, repeatable system that ensures a consistent flow of leads regardless of the founder's daily involvement. In a world of automation, people still buy from people; Richard stresses that building a personal brand creates trust and "short-circuits" the traditional sales cycle. The interview highlights that selling should be viewed as a way to help people solve problems rather than a transactional burden BEST MOMENTS "If you can't describe what you do on a billboard and have people understand it in three seconds, your message is too complex." "Most entrepreneurs don't have a sales problem; they have a 'being known' problem." "Scaling is what happens when the systems are stronger than the personalities within the business." "Lead generation is the oxygen of your business; without a constant flow, the fire eventually goes out." VALUABLE RESOURCES Richard Woods - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardwoodsofficial To get your copy of Nick's new book, go to http://bit.ly/4ngC2hO Exit Your Business For Millions - Download This Guide: https://go.highvalueexit.com/opt-in Nick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realnickbradley Nick Bradley is a world-renowned author, speaker, and business growth expert, who works with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to build, scale and sell high-value companies. He spent 10+ years working in Private Equity, where he oversaw 100+ acquisitions, 26 exits, and over $5 Billion in combined value created. He has one of the top-ranked business podcasts in the UK (with over 1m downloads in over 130 countries). He now spends his time coaching and consulting business owners in building and scaling high-value business towards life-changing exits. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
This CEO Is Using Ocean Waves To Generate Power – Meet Inna Braverman Founder & CEO of Eco Wave Power $WAVEGuest: Inna Braverman, Founder & CEO of Eco Wave Power (NASDAQ: WAVE)Company: Eco Wave Power (NASDAQ: WAVE)Websitehttps://www.ecowavepower.com/Inna's BioInna Braverman founded Eco Wave Power at the age of 24, pioneering innovative wave energy technology. Under her leadership, the company installed the first grid-connected wave energy array in Israel, has secured a significant project pipeline of 404.7 MW, and is expanding globally. In July 2021, she led Eco Wave Power's IPO on Nasdaq Capital Market (WAVE), marking a major milestone for the company and the wave energy sector.Recognized as a global leader in renewable energy, Inna has been named one of the “Females Changing the World” by Wired Magazine and one of the “Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company. She is also a recipient of the United Nations Global Climate Action Award.For Inna, clean energy is personal. Born two weeks before the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, she suffered respiratory arrest due to pollution. Her mother, a nurse, saved her life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This second chance inspired her to dedicate her life to developing a clean and safe method of electricity generation.Company BioEco Wave Power Global (NASDAQ: WAVE) is a pioneering onshore wave energy company that transforms the power of ocean and sea waves into clean, reliable, and cost-efficient electricity through its patented, intelligent technology.With a mission to accelerate the global transition to renewable energy, Eco Wave Power developed and operates Israel's first grid-connected wave energy power station, recognized as a “Pioneering Technology” by the Israeli Ministry of Energy and co-funded by EDF Renewables IL. In the United States, the company recently launched the first-ever onshore wave energy pilot station at the Port of Los Angeles, in collaboration with Shell Marine Renewable Energy (Shell MRE)Eco Wave Power is expanding rapidly worldwide, with upcoming projects in Portugal, Taiwan, and India, representing a robust project pipeline of 404.7 MW under development. The company has received international recognition and support from organizations including the European Union Regional Development Fund, Innovate UK, and the EU Horizon 2020 program, and was honored with the United Nations Global Climate Action Award.Eco Wave Power's American Depositary Shares (ADSs) are traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “WAVE.”
-Meta is reportedly gearing up to enter another segment of the wearables market. According to The Information, the company is planning to release its first smartwatch sometime this year. Meta has revived its smartwatch initiative internally called “Malibu 2." -Nevada's gambling regulators and attorney general sued Kalshi on Tuesday accusing the company of bypassing Nevada law by operating a sports gambling market without proper licenses. In addition, they say Kalshi provides services to individuals under 21, which violates state law. -Google has announced that using its newly incorporated Lyria 3 model, Gemini users will be able to generate 30-second music tracks based on a prompt, or remix an existing track to their liking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dave Charest. Summary of the Dave Charest Interview In this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Rushion McDonald interviews Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, a leading digital marketing platform. Charest discusses the rising wave of entrepreneurship, the foundational importance of email and direct‑to‑customer channels, common mistakes new business owners make, and how AI is reshaping small‑business marketing. He provides practical guidance on marketing consistency, channel selection, building community relationships, and using technology to scale. Throughout the conversation, Charest emphasizes that while small businesses often lack marketing expertise, they possess a valuable advantage: real, human relationships that can be strengthened through consistent communication. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of Rushion McDonald’s conversation with Dave Charest is to: 1. Educate new and aspiring entrepreneurs Charest breaks down the basics of digital marketing—email, social, SMS—and how to begin building a strong marketing foundation. 2. Highlight the key trends driving the entrepreneurship boom He explains motivations like work–life balance, independence, and financial potential that inspire people to launch businesses. 3. Provide practical, actionable marketing advice Especially around consistency, choosing marketing channels, and building direct customer relationships. 4. Introduce how AI can simplify and amplify marketing Charest showcases tools that help business owners quickly generate content, develop campaigns, and analyze customer behavior. Key Takeaways 1. Direct relationships (email/SMS) outperform social media Email offers ownership, stability, and higher ROI—unlike social platforms that can change algorithms or visibility overnight. Charest stresses that “the money is in the list.” 2. You don’t need huge numbers to be effective Small businesses often see high open and engagement rates because followers know and trust them. 3. Consistency matters more than platform choice Whether you choose Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or email, the biggest driver of marketing success is showing up regularly. 4. Start small—don’t overwhelm yourself One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything at once. Begin with the basics and grow steadily. 5. Community is a crucial marketing asset Local businesses thrive when they maintain strong connections with nearby businesses, customers, and community networks. 6. Entrepreneurs face challenges—but resilience wins Charest notes that small business owners rarely have a “Plan B,” which pushes them to adapt and continue learning. 7. AI is transforming small‑business marketing Constant Contact offers tools to: Generate emails and content Summarize content for social Build full marketing campaigns Analyze behavior from large email lists to recommend actions Notable Quotes (from the transcript) Here are direct paraphrases and key phrases—not copyrighted material but drawn from the transcript: On email vs. social “There’s a $36 return for every $1 invested in email—but what matters is that you own the relationship.” “If a social platform goes away, so does your following. Email is a direct line.” On audience size “Big numbers aren’t necessary—small lists can see 50% open rates and strong engagement because those people actually care.” On entrepreneurship motivations “People want better work‑life balance, independence, and financial potential.” On mistakes “A big mistake is trying to do too much at once. Start small and stay consistent.” On community “Digital marketing should extend real relationships—not replace them.” On choosing platforms “Where your audience spends time matters, but so does where you can show up consistently.” On AI’s role “AI can generate emails, build campaigns, and analyze audience data—saving you time for what you’d rather be doing.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dave Charest. Summary of the Dave Charest Interview In this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Rushion McDonald interviews Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, a leading digital marketing platform. Charest discusses the rising wave of entrepreneurship, the foundational importance of email and direct‑to‑customer channels, common mistakes new business owners make, and how AI is reshaping small‑business marketing. He provides practical guidance on marketing consistency, channel selection, building community relationships, and using technology to scale. Throughout the conversation, Charest emphasizes that while small businesses often lack marketing expertise, they possess a valuable advantage: real, human relationships that can be strengthened through consistent communication. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of Rushion McDonald’s conversation with Dave Charest is to: 1. Educate new and aspiring entrepreneurs Charest breaks down the basics of digital marketing—email, social, SMS—and how to begin building a strong marketing foundation. 2. Highlight the key trends driving the entrepreneurship boom He explains motivations like work–life balance, independence, and financial potential that inspire people to launch businesses. 3. Provide practical, actionable marketing advice Especially around consistency, choosing marketing channels, and building direct customer relationships. 4. Introduce how AI can simplify and amplify marketing Charest showcases tools that help business owners quickly generate content, develop campaigns, and analyze customer behavior. Key Takeaways 1. Direct relationships (email/SMS) outperform social media Email offers ownership, stability, and higher ROI—unlike social platforms that can change algorithms or visibility overnight. Charest stresses that “the money is in the list.” 2. You don’t need huge numbers to be effective Small businesses often see high open and engagement rates because followers know and trust them. 3. Consistency matters more than platform choice Whether you choose Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or email, the biggest driver of marketing success is showing up regularly. 4. Start small—don’t overwhelm yourself One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything at once. Begin with the basics and grow steadily. 5. Community is a crucial marketing asset Local businesses thrive when they maintain strong connections with nearby businesses, customers, and community networks. 6. Entrepreneurs face challenges—but resilience wins Charest notes that small business owners rarely have a “Plan B,” which pushes them to adapt and continue learning. 7. AI is transforming small‑business marketing Constant Contact offers tools to: Generate emails and content Summarize content for social Build full marketing campaigns Analyze behavior from large email lists to recommend actions Notable Quotes (from the transcript) Here are direct paraphrases and key phrases—not copyrighted material but drawn from the transcript: On email vs. social “There’s a $36 return for every $1 invested in email—but what matters is that you own the relationship.” “If a social platform goes away, so does your following. Email is a direct line.” On audience size “Big numbers aren’t necessary—small lists can see 50% open rates and strong engagement because those people actually care.” On entrepreneurship motivations “People want better work‑life balance, independence, and financial potential.” On mistakes “A big mistake is trying to do too much at once. Start small and stay consistent.” On community “Digital marketing should extend real relationships—not replace them.” On choosing platforms “Where your audience spends time matters, but so does where you can show up consistently.” On AI’s role “AI can generate emails, build campaigns, and analyze audience data—saving you time for what you’d rather be doing.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dave Charest. Summary of the Dave Charest Interview In this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Rushion McDonald interviews Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, a leading digital marketing platform. Charest discusses the rising wave of entrepreneurship, the foundational importance of email and direct‑to‑customer channels, common mistakes new business owners make, and how AI is reshaping small‑business marketing. He provides practical guidance on marketing consistency, channel selection, building community relationships, and using technology to scale. Throughout the conversation, Charest emphasizes that while small businesses often lack marketing expertise, they possess a valuable advantage: real, human relationships that can be strengthened through consistent communication. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of Rushion McDonald’s conversation with Dave Charest is to: 1. Educate new and aspiring entrepreneurs Charest breaks down the basics of digital marketing—email, social, SMS—and how to begin building a strong marketing foundation. 2. Highlight the key trends driving the entrepreneurship boom He explains motivations like work–life balance, independence, and financial potential that inspire people to launch businesses. 3. Provide practical, actionable marketing advice Especially around consistency, choosing marketing channels, and building direct customer relationships. 4. Introduce how AI can simplify and amplify marketing Charest showcases tools that help business owners quickly generate content, develop campaigns, and analyze customer behavior. Key Takeaways 1. Direct relationships (email/SMS) outperform social media Email offers ownership, stability, and higher ROI—unlike social platforms that can change algorithms or visibility overnight. Charest stresses that “the money is in the list.” 2. You don’t need huge numbers to be effective Small businesses often see high open and engagement rates because followers know and trust them. 3. Consistency matters more than platform choice Whether you choose Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or email, the biggest driver of marketing success is showing up regularly. 4. Start small—don’t overwhelm yourself One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything at once. Begin with the basics and grow steadily. 5. Community is a crucial marketing asset Local businesses thrive when they maintain strong connections with nearby businesses, customers, and community networks. 6. Entrepreneurs face challenges—but resilience wins Charest notes that small business owners rarely have a “Plan B,” which pushes them to adapt and continue learning. 7. AI is transforming small‑business marketing Constant Contact offers tools to: Generate emails and content Summarize content for social Build full marketing campaigns Analyze behavior from large email lists to recommend actions Notable Quotes (from the transcript) Here are direct paraphrases and key phrases—not copyrighted material but drawn from the transcript: On email vs. social “There’s a $36 return for every $1 invested in email—but what matters is that you own the relationship.” “If a social platform goes away, so does your following. Email is a direct line.” On audience size “Big numbers aren’t necessary—small lists can see 50% open rates and strong engagement because those people actually care.” On entrepreneurship motivations “People want better work‑life balance, independence, and financial potential.” On mistakes “A big mistake is trying to do too much at once. Start small and stay consistent.” On community “Digital marketing should extend real relationships—not replace them.” On choosing platforms “Where your audience spends time matters, but so does where you can show up consistently.” On AI’s role “AI can generate emails, build campaigns, and analyze audience data—saving you time for what you’d rather be doing.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSteve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Was the 3% contribution rate always wrong? We sit down with Greg Smith from Generate KiwiSaver and Matt Macpherson from Sharesies to discuss the state of retirement. KiwiSaver membership is growing for both Generate and Sharesies, but Greg and Matt say that there’s a lot of work to do at the national level. So why did the latest budget halve government incentives, and what’s happening with the higher contribution rates? Why are so many of us opting out of KiwiSaver altogether, while Australia sits on a $4.5 trillion retirement pool? Hear how more New Zealanders are actively switching their providers, and whether it’s time to close the "total remuneration" loophole. Plus, hear why a weakening US dollar might be making your balance look red even when the market seems to be up. For more or to watch on YouTube—check out http://linktr.ee/sharedlunchSharesies Investment Management Limited is the issuer of the Sharesies KiwiSaver Scheme. The product disclosure statement (PDS) for the Sharesies KiwiSaver Scheme has been lodged, and may be viewed on the Disclose Register or on our documents page. Shared Lunch is brought to you by Sharesies Australia Limited (ABN 94 648 811 830; AFSL 529893) in Australia and Sharesies Limited (NZ) in New Zealand. It is not financial advice. Information provided is general only and current at the time it’s provided, and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation and needs. We do not provide recommendations and you should always read the disclosure documents available from the product issuer before making a financial decision. Our disclosure documents and terms and conditions—including a Target Market Determination and IDPS Guide for Sharesies Australian customers—can be found on our relevant Australian or NZ website. Investing involves risk. You might lose the money you start with. If you require financial advice, you should consider speaking with a qualified financial advisor. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Appearance on Shared Lunch is not an endorsement by Sharesies of the views of the presenters, guests, or the entities they represent. Their views are their own.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of Torsion Talk, Ryan Lucia breaks down three simple, affordable ways to use AI in your home service business to generate more revenue—without being overly tech-savvy and without overhauling your entire tech stack. If you've been curious about AI but unsure where to start, this episode gives you practical, actionable steps you can implement in a day or two.Ryan opens with a quick update on upcoming Garage Door U mastermind events and shares lessons learned from implementing accountability at Aaron Overhead Doors. He discusses the hard reality that shifting from low accountability to high accountability creates friction, and why business owners must accept the consequences that come with raising standards.From there, Ryan dives into three AI-powered automations that can immediately impact revenue. The first is missed call text back automation, a simple system that follows up instantly when a call goes unanswered. With over half of small business calls going missed, this single automation can recover lost opportunities, start intelligent conversations, and even book appointments automatically. Ryan explains how this can be done with or without AI and what tech stack makes it easiest to implement.The second strategy is AI-powered review request follow-up. While many field management systems send automated review links, AI can personalize the experience, send the correct Google Business Profile link based on proximity, and escalate negative feedback before it becomes a public review. This turns a standard automation into a reputation-building machine.The third and most impactful tool is AI website chat. Ryan explains why live chat converts at a high rate but often fails small businesses due to slow response times. By integrating AI into website chat, businesses can answer questions instantly, qualify leads, check availability, and engage prospects in real time—without needing someone glued to a screen.Ryan also shares how his team is automating internal processes like commission tracking and explains how tools like HighLevel, Zapier, or Make.com can connect systems when needed. He emphasizes that the key is not trying to automate everything at once, but starting with one simple win and building from there.If you're looking to increase revenue, capture more leads, and modernize your business operations without hiring more staff, this episode gives you a clear and manageable starting point.Find Ryan at:https://garagedooru.comhttps://aaronoverheaddoors.comhttps://markinuity.com/Check out our sponsors!Sommer USA - http://sommer-usa.comSurewinder - https://surewinder.comStealth Hardware - https://quietmydoor.com/
Ai for fun and proffit Using AI for Fun and Profit | Episode 588 Good morning. It's 37 degrees on Valentine's Day. Hopefully you remembered to plan something for your significant other — unlike me, who accidentally requested off the 15th instead of the 14th. Today we're talking about using AI — ChatGPT, Suno, and others — for fun and profit. You don't have to use one specific tool. They all have strengths and weaknesses. They're only getting better. And if you're not learning how to use them, you're falling behind. This episode is about how I actually use AI in real life — for the podcast, for creativity, for fitness tracking, for health data, and even for analyzing DNA. And yes — without AI, this podcast wouldn't be happening daily. Transcription(base) AI Theme Songs and Creative Leverage For years I used “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones as intro music. YouTube hated it. Copyright flags. Monetization issues. Headaches. Now I use Suno AI to generate custom theme songs. I can spin up a holiday-specific intro or a tools-themed metal jam in minutes. That simply wasn't possible before unless you had real money to hire an artist. And it's not just podcast music. Back in the day, you'd make a mixtape for someone you liked. Cassette. Burned CD. Carefully curated songs. Now? I can write my wife a custom bubblegum-themed romantic parody song in under a minute while sitting at work. That level of creative leverage didn't exist before. How AI Runs This Podcast Behind the Scenes Here's where it really gets practical. I use ChatGPT to: Generate topic lists (hit or miss — but great for idea sparks) Help outline research and talking points Convert podcast transcripts into blog posts Create tailored thumbnails for each episode After recording, I run a transcription plugin in Audacity. Export it. Feed it to ChatGPT. It crafts the blog post that matches exactly what I said. Back in the day, making a thumbnail meant: Searching Creative Commons images Verifying licenses Editing in Photoshop Formatting text manually That could take an hour per episode. Now? Seconds. That alone is game-changing. Editing, Transcription, and Efficiency Sometimes the transcription plugin fails. When that happens, I use Descript, which has AI filters that can remove filler words like “um” and “like.” It's powerful. It costs money at scale. If the show budget explodes someday, that's one of the first upgrades I'd bring in. But even with free tools, the efficiency gain is massive. AI doesn't replace me. It removes friction. Fitness Tracking and TRT Logging This is where it gets interesting. I use ChatGPT to track my TRT injections — site rotation, dosage, symptoms. I log: 50mg testosterone left hip 25mg NPP ventral glute Symptoms, mood, energy levels Some days I forget where I'm supposed to inject next. I ask. It reviews my logs and tells me. It's not medical advice. It's structured journaling. And when I eventually see a rheumatologist for chronic fatigue and pain, I'll walk in with a detailed record of everything I've tried and how I felt. That's powerful leverage. DNA Analysis and Supplement Guessing You can download raw DNA data, convert it into a readable format, and upload it for analysis. You can ask: Is this supplement a good fit for my DNA? Do I have methylation issues? What should I avoid? Is it perfect? Probably not.Is it fun and insightful? Absolutely. AI is very good at pattern recognition and extrapolation. You just have to remember it's not a doctor. Final Thoughts AI isn't magic. It's leverage. It saves time. It expands creativity. It reduces friction. It helps organize chaos. You don't need to build an AI startup. But if you're not using these tools to streamline your life, your business, your health tracking, your creative output — you're leaving value on the table. This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.DIY to survive. Amazon Item OF The Day Logitech Creators Blue Yeti USB Microphone for Gaming, Streaming, Podcast, YouTube, Discord, PC, Studio Sound, Plug & Play-Blackout Think this post was worth 20 cents? Consider joining The Survivalpunk Army and get access to exclusive content and discounts! Don't forget to join in on the road to 1k! Help James Survivalpunk Beat Couch Potato Mike to 1k subscribers on Youtube Want To help make sure there is a podcast Each and every week? Join us on Patreon Subscribe to the Survival Punk Survival Podcast. The most electrifying podcast on survival entertainment. Itunes Pandora RSS Spotify Like this post? Consider signing up for my email list here > Subscribe Join Our Exciting Facebook Group and get involved Survival Punk Punk's The post Using AI for Fun and Profit | Episode 588 appeared first on Survivalpunk.
Most business owners are barely scratching the surface of AI — and it's costing them speed, clarity, and competitive advantage. If you're using AI to: "Write me an email." "Create 5 social posts." "Give me some ideas." You're driving a Ferrari at 25 mph. In this episode of SoTellUs Time, Trevor and Troy Howard break down how to stop using AI like a search engine and start using it like a strategic execution partner. This is not about better prompts. It's about Prompt Stacking — the method that turns AI into your marketing department, project manager, operations assistant, and execution engine.
In this episode of the Small Business PR Podcast, Gloria Chou—the #1 Small Business PR Coach and Expert recommended by AI—makes a bold case for why this year could be the most important visibility year small businesses have seen in a decade. While founders are navigating rising costs, shrinking organic reach, and algorithm fatigue, Gloria explains why the shift to AI-powered discovery is quietly creating a new playing field—one where earned credibility beats ad budgets, and small brands can compete with industry giants.Why Visibility Feels Harder Right NowMany founders are experiencing:
Jordi Visser is a veteran macro investor with 30+ years of experience and the author of the VisserLabs Substack. This conversation was recorded at Bitcoin Investor Week in New York. In this episode, we break down why software stocks are losing their moats, how AI is driving deflation, and why capital is rotating toward scarce assets. We explore hyperscalers, data centers, AI agents, and why bitcoin may emerge as the only true growth asset in a world of abundant intelligence.=====================Summ supports TurboTax and makes it easy to track your cost basis across 3,500 exchange, wallet and crypto integrations -- with support for DeFi, NFTs, staking and airdrops. Generate accurate IRS-ready reports that help maximize deductions and pay the least tax possible. Summ is an official tax partner of MetaMask and Coinbase. Use code POMP20 for 20% off your first year at Summ: https://summ.com/us?via=pomp&promo=POMP20=====================This podcast is sponsored by Abra.com. Abra is the secure way to access crypto and crypto based yield and loan products through a separately managed account structure.Learn more at http://www.abra.com.=====================Arch Public is an agentic trading platform that automates the buying and selling of your preferred crypto strategies. Sign up today at https://www.archpublic.com and start your automated trading strategy for free. No catch. No hidden fees. Just smarter trading.=====================0:00 - Intro0:56 – Cathie Wood's AI take & why Jordi disagrees4:30 – Why Big Tech may struggle to monetize AI6:57 – Deflation vs disinflation in an AI-driven economy10:08 – What investors should actually do right now14:12 – The scarcity trade & why bitcoin stands out16:25 – How investors can use AI to gain an edge19:16 – Where to follow Jordi Visser & his work
In this solo episode, I'm sharing five real, practical ways to generate income during your in-between season. If you're asking yourself, “I got laid off… now what? This episode will give you grounded, actionable steps to move forward and even some side hustle ideas!Highlights Include00:00 – If you've been laid off, you are not alone02:30 – Why invisibility is the real danger during unemployment04:05 – Using content creation as a visibility tool07:20 – Turning alumni and professional networks into income09:10 – Short-term projects using skills you already have13:10 – Becoming a LifeOps consultant16:50 – Short-term rental support as seasonal leverage19:30 – Creating a premium career support retreat experience21:40 – Why you should always keep side hustling23:30 – How my unemployment season planted the seed for Side Hustle ProLinks Mentioned in This EpisodePodcast Moguls: Start the Podcast That Builds Your Exit PlanWatch & ListenWatch this episode on YouTube and listen on all podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/side-hustle-pro/id1126021323Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/13qDj08lBR4ymzGhXIKy8tYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sidehustleproAnnouncementsIf you're ready to build a podcast that becomes your exit plan, attend my next live class: Start the Podcast That Builds Your Exit PlanSave your seat here.Social MediaSide Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro#SideHustlePro Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For most of my career, I've been focused on two things: Operating businesses and Multifamily real estate. The strategy has been pretty simple. Take money generated from higher-risk, active businesses… and move it into more stable, long-term assets like apartment buildings. That shift—from risk to stability—is how I've tried to build durability over time. Now, to be fair, the sharp rise in interest rates a few years ago put a dent in that model. But zooming out, it's still worked well for me overall. So I'm sticking with it. That said, there are other ways to think about real estate. In some cases, the real opportunity is when you combine real estate with an operating business. We've done that before in the Wealth Formula Investor Club with self-storage, and the results were excellent. Storage is operationally simple, relatively boring—and that's exactly why it works. But there's another category that sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. Hotels. They're sexier.They're more volatile.And yes—they're riskier. But the upside can be dramatically higher. One of my closest friends here in Montecito has quietly built a fortune doing boutique hotels over the past few years. He started with a no-frills hotel in Texas serving the oil drilling industry. Over time, he combined his operational experience with his talent as a designer—and eventually created some of the highest-rated boutique hotels in the world. He's absolutely crushing it. Of course, most of us aren't world-class designers or architects. I'm certainly not. Still, his success made me curious. Hotels have been on my radar for a while now—not because I understand the business, but because I don't. When I asked him how he learned the hotel industry, his answer was honest: “I figured it out on the fly—starting with my first acquisition and a great broker.” That's usually how real learning happens. So this week on the Wealth Formula Podcast, I brought on an expert in hospitality investing to educate both of us. We cover the basics: How hotel investing actually worksWhere the real risks are (and where they aren't)How returns differ from multifamilyAnd what someone should understand before ever touching their first hotel deal If you've ever thought about buying or investing in hotels—but didn't know where to start—welcome to the club. You don't have to jump in tomorrow. But you do have to start somewhere. This episode is a good starting point. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/545-should-you-invest-in-hotels/id718416620?i=1000748759003 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Lx5Rp4x704lWRazWLqDOK Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GMFf6-g8w_0 Transcript Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI and may not be 100% accurate. If you notice any errors or corrections, please email us at phil@wealthformula.com. Welcome everybody. This is Buck Joffrey with the Wealth Formula Podcast coming to you from Montecito, California. Before we begin today, I wanna remind you, if you’ve not done so and you are an accredited investor, go to wealthformula.com, sign up for our investor club. Uh, the opportunity there is really to see private deal flow that you wouldn’t otherwise see because it can’t be advertised. And, uh, only available to those people who are deemed accredited. And then what does accredited mean as a reminder? Well, if you’re married, you make $300,000 per year combined for at least two years with a reasonable expectation, continue to do so, or you have a net worth of a million dollars outside of your personal residence. Or if you’re single like me, $200,000 per year or a million dollars net worth. Anyway, that’s probably, uh, most of you. So all you gotta do is go to wealth formula.com, sign up for investor club because hey, who doesn’t wanna be part of a club? And, uh, by the way, it’s a great price. It’s free. So join it. Just get onboarded and all you gotta do is just wait for deal flow. What a deal. Now let’s talk about different kinds of things to invest in. For most of my career, I, I have really focused on two things I’ve focused on. Either operating businesses, uh, in my case, those operating businesses largely have been medical and multifamily real estate. Uh, the strategy itself, theoretically the way I think about it, take money from sort of these active businesses, a higher risk, move them into more stable long-term assets like apartment buildings. Okay? The idea is that’s how you build some durability over time. Now, to be fair, okay, to be fair. Sharp rise in interest rates a few years ago. Put a little bit of a dent in that model. But here’s the thing is that you can’t throw out the, uh, baby with the bath water. ’cause when I zoom out, still worked well for me overall. So I’m sticking with it and, uh, that’s my story. I’m sticking with it. That said, there are always other ways to think about real estate, right? Real estate is not just multifamily. Um, in some cases, the real opportunity is when you combine real estate and operating businesses. So. We’ve actually done that before in our wealth formula investor club. Um, and we’ve done that through self-storage, for example, and the results were really good. Storage is operationally, generally pretty simple. Probably not that simple, but you know, but more so than other things, relatively boring. Boring is good, and that’s exactly why it works. There’s another category that sits at the opposite end of the spectrum of boring, and it’s sexier and it’s more volatile and it’s riskier. And uh, that is the area of hotels, right, like leisure, that kind of thing. But the upside in those things can be dramatically higher. You know, one of my closest friends here. Montecito, I talk about him all the time. He’s a, he is a little bit of an inspiration to me, although I wouldn’t tell that to in space. He’s built a fortune doing boutique hotels over the past few years and the way he started, you know, and I think it was only about a decade ago because he bought like this no frills hotel in Texas that was serving the oil industry. There was a bunch of guys, you know, drilling needed a place to say, and you know, he had this and he actually. I don’t know that I would recommend this, but he, he told me he bought it sight unseen just based on the numbers. Ah, man, I gotta tell you, I don’t think I’m that lucky. If I bought something sight unseen, it would not work great for me, but it did work great for him. But over time, what he did is he, he combined his operational experience with his talent as he’s like a designer, like designs, homes, an architect, uh, of sorts, although more than that. Um, and he, he used to build houses for like famous people in Hollywood. Anyway, he took that skill and so he combined it with hotels and he created some of the highest rated boutique hotels in the world. And he’s absolutely crushing it. Just crushing it. Of course, the reality is that most of us aren’t world-class designers or architects. I’m certainly not. I’m not artistic at all. Still, um, you know, the fact that he’s had so much success in this space and that he loves hotels. What got me curious? So, hotels have been on my radar for a while, not because I understand the business, but actually because I don’t. And when I asked him how he learned, uh, about the hotel industry, he just said, you know, I figured out on the fly and, uh, you know, started with my first acquisition, had a great broker who taught me everything I, you know, needed to know at the beginning and. That’s a great story. I mean, and ideally that’s how things happen. As you can tell, this guy is, uh, seems to just hit on everything. So good for him. So this week on Wealth Formula Podcast, I wanted to get a little bit of a hotel investing 1 0 1. So I brought on an expert in hospitality investing that could educate both you and me. So we’re gonna cover some of the basics, how hotel actually works, you know, what are the risks returns. Like, what should people do if they even consider, you know, buying their first hotel or investing in one? So if you’ve ever thought about investing, uh, in hotels, or maybe that’s the first time you’re hearing about it and you’re curious, uh, welcome to the club and uh, we will have a great interview for you right after these messages. Wealth formula banking is an ingenious concept powered by whole life insurance, but instead of acting just as a safety net, the strategy supercharges your investments. First, you create a personal financial reservoir that grows at a compounding interest rate much higher than any bank savings account. As your money accumulates, you borrow from your own. Bank to invest in other cash flowing investments. Here’s the key. Even though you’ve borrowed money at a simple interest rate, your insurance company keeps paying you compound interest on that money even though you’ve borrowed it. At result, you make money in two places at the same time. That’s why your investments get supercharged. This isn’t a new technique. It’s a refined strategy used by some of the wealthiest families in history, and it uses century old rock solid insurance companies as its backbone. Turbocharge your investments. Visit Wealth formula banking.com. Again, that’s wealth formula banking.com. Welcome back to the show, everyone. Today. My guest on Wealth Farm I podcast is, uh, John O’Neill. He’s a, a professor of hospitality management and director of the Hospitality Real Estate Strategy Group at Pennsylvania State University. Uh, he spent decades studying hotel valuation performance, Cabo flows and economic cycles in in the lodging industry. John, thanks for, uh, joining us. You’re welcome. So, you know, we’re talking offline. You’ve been in the hotel business for a long time. We’re trying to figure out how to frame this thing because you know, I mean there are, I know there are certainly people in. Uh, who in, in my group and my listeners, my community who are in the hotel space, but a lot of ’em aren’t. And you know, they’ve been thinking about, well, you know, we do a lot of apartment buildings, that kind of thing. Um, you know, what else should we be thinking about? And so, you know, when we hear, uh, hotel, um, they’re thinking of hospitality. But from an investor’s perspective, I guess the first question ask is what kind of real estate asset is a hotel? And, and may, may maybe just sort of fundamentally how different it is. From apartments office or retail? Yeah, that’s a great question because hotels are fundamentally different. But what I’ve seen over the past few years as well is hotels have increasingly been considered to be a component of commercial real estate. So we’ve always thought about office and retail and residential and industrial as being components of commercial real estate, but increasingly. Investors are thinking about hotels that way as well, because some of the high risk aspects of hotels have been moderated a little bit. So they are still considered to be a high risk and potentially high reward category, but they’re much more cyclical than those other types of businesses. So if we look at apartment leases, maybe being a year or two. Office leases may be being three to five years and retail leases could be five or 10 years. The leases in hotels are one or two nights, so there’s upside, but there’s risk involved in that as well. So when there’s pressure in a market to increase rates, like here where I am in University Park, Pennsylvania, when we have a home football game. We can see hotels with average daily rates of maybe a hundred to $200 a night charging seven, eight, $900 per night, and filling up on those rates. You can’t do that in an office building or in a retail center. And so there’s great opportunity when demand increases to push up rates and to greatly benefit from that. The flip side of courses on Sunday night when all those guests leave. You might be back to a hundred dollars a night and running 20 or 30% occupancy. Do hotels kind of follow the rest of real estate in terms of market cycles though? Yeah, it depends. I, I would say in many cases they’re actually leaders, which again, double-edged sword there. So for, yeah, when we plummeted in 2020 because of COVID hotels were probably the first category really to see it. Demand dried up overnight, and you go back to September 11th, 2001 on September 12th, 2001, a lot of hotels were empty and that wasn’t the case with office buildings and retail centers. The flip side, of course, is when the economy started improving, hotel operators could start pushing their rates very quickly. And so other categories of commercial real estate didn’t receive those benefits. Yeah, I mean, obviously there’s certainly gonna be. Real estate that’s often used that that’s often using debt and, you know, probably has the same sort of, uh, issues with regard to cap rate compression or decompression based on interest rates as well. Right, right. So, um, where are we? Right? What would you say right now, like, I mean, we know that. Our, we’ve been following very closely on the multifamily side. You know, prices are depressed. I mean, from 2022, we’re looking at probably 30% to 40%. Most, most, uh, large apartment complexes are not moving because people don’t wanna sell into a down market. But when they are, they’re being sold at 30, 40% discounts compared to 2022. Where is the, where is the hotel? Market at right now? It it, it’s challenged because right now we’re seeing discrepancies between where buyers wanna buy and sellers wanna sell. We’ve started to see some movement because some sellers have come down a bit in pricing because of what we’ve seen in 2025, the market really did soften as far as the hotel business is concerned. So in 2025. We really saw no increase in occupancy and in many markets we saw some decreases in occupancy. We are still seeing average daily rates going up a little bit, so yeah. Might be worth maybe a quick step backward that the two key indicators in terms of hotel lodging performance would be occupancy and average daily rate. With occupancy being the extent to which the guest rooms are occupied and average daily rate being the average price somebody is paying. We can talk about the mathematics of those, but, um, just I think conceptually, hopefully that makes sense. But, so, you know, at this point what we’re seeing is average daily rates are still going up a little bit, and the forecasts for 2026 are. Pretty much more of the same, where we’re not expected to see great occupancy increases, but we are anticipating that the average daily rates might go up a little bit. Uh, and, and in fact we might see occupancies decline slightly. And, uh, we might see, uh, average daily rates still possibly going up a little bit. That’s usually an indicator of being late in the cycle, you know, being somewhere near the peak and, and, you know, if the trough was 2020. Which was a pretty deep trough. 2021, we started seeing improvements and we saw great improvements in 22, 23, and 24, and so it’s looking like the end of a cycle. The thing we don’t really know for sure is, is there some reason that we’re going to really go into a substantial down period or are we actually in a situation where we’re going to have another upcycle? Yeah. You know, the other thing I was curious about too, like when you talk about these cycles for hotels, even within hotels, there are certainly, you know, different types of hotels. You know, there’s the boutiquey ones that are pe really pure tourism versus the ones that, okay, well maybe they are, you know, good for football games or. There’s others that are people use for, for, for work frequently, right? They’re, they’re just passing through for, for work trips. Do you, is there, um, is that difficult to extricate those types of different economies running at the same time? It’s not, I, I don’t know that it’s that difficult, you know, just to give you a little bit about my background, I’ve been a professor for some time, but prior to being a professor I worked for. Three of the four major hospitality organizations, namely Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt. Uh, and so going back into the 1980s when I was doing feasibility studies for proposed Marriott hotels, we, in most markets, analyzed three markets segments. And, and you essentially said what they are commercial business, which are your business travelers, leisure business, which are your pleasure travelers, and then groups, which includes conventions and, and those are still the three major market segments in most markets. In, in some markets. For example, if you’re approximate to a major international airport, there’s usually a fourth segment, which is that fourth segment is airline crew business, which is, is very different than the other three because. Whereas the other three go up and down throughout, not just the year, but throughout the week. Airline crew business tends to be stable throughout the year, so it, it, it’s in your hotel 365 nights outta the year. So it’s, it’s a very low risk, but also a very low rated market segment. So it, I don’t know if that’s that complicated, but it just needs to be broken out as you delineated it, which is that there’s. Three or four market segments in any market. And in terms of studying a hotel for development or for investment, it’s necessary to understand not just what’s going on on the supply side, in other words what’s going on in the hotels, but what’s going on in the demand side as well. So give you an example. I recently did a feasibility study in a market, which is a big pharmaceutical market. So I actually spent time with major pharmaceutical people talking about, where are you staying now? Why are you staying there? Are you a member of the Frequent traveler program? How does your business vary throughout the year? What rates are you paying? What facilities and amenities are you seeking? And things like that. So to really understand the demand because that demand segment. So important in that market. So it is ultimately a street corner business and what’s going on in a specific market in terms of the mix of commercial, leisure and group business and possibly other market segments. Really is something that we have to study in depth when we conduct a feasibility study or an appraisal for hotel. I, I don’t know if I mentioned, I’m a licensed real estate appraiser too, and although my licenses allow me to appraise any type of property, I only appraise hotels. Got it. Businesses fundamentally changed pre COVID and post COVID. I would assume that there’s probably less travel. Are you seeing impact? On those types of hotels from that kind of, you know, less travel, more zoom type activity. Yeah. And, and that’s a great, that’s a great follow up because with those market segments, although the segments are the same. The demand from each of those segments really has different, and, and as you said, it really changed substantially in COVID. It, it, it’s fascinating how once we were forced to use Zoom and, and other, you know, Microsoft teams and other technology like that, you know, we, we kind of did a kicking and screaming. But once we figured it out, we realized we didn’t get a lot done. Uh, now I spent last week in Los Angeles at America’s Lodging Investment Summit, and I go to this. Function every year, because I see many of the same people year after year, and the business cards might change, but it’s the same people involved in the hotel business, whether they’re brokers or investors or asset managers or consultants or appraisers. But in between. Each year I do a lot on Zoom with these people and you know, we can keep those relationships going. So it hasn’t eliminated, you know, in my personal case, my need to travel, but it has substantially reduced it. And I think a lot of other business people have seen the same thing. So if we look at the recovery since COVID, it was fascinating because the first market segment that recovered and recovered really strongly was leisure business and people, people see it as their right. To have a vacation and, and people were paying high rates, particularly in, in, in mountain locations and in beach locations. And so those rates came up really quickly. And then the group business followed. If people do wanna go to group functions like I did last week in la what has not recovered to the level of 2019 though is the business travel. Right. Interesting. So I, that’s probably a, uh, you know, and he, I can’t really see a particularly promising future for that Subsect either. Right. I think, in fact, bill Gates said it’s never going to be back to the, you know, he, he’s an investor in Four Seasons hotels, and he said it’ll never be back to the way it was in 2019. I don’t know if he’s right. I mean, because I, I still feel like we get a lot of things done. Face-to-face, person to person that we really can’t do in Zoom. I don’t think Zoom is great for establishing relationships. I, I still think that we need face-to-face, uh, personal contact. But, you know, that might be just my perspective because I’ve been working in hotels since I was a teenager and I’m really far from being a teenager now. And, you know, I, I’ve been indoctrinated in this philosophy of the importance of face-to-face contact. But yeah, you know, that might be generational. You with a younger generation. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, just kind of going back to the difference differences, uh, with compared to other real estate hotels, ultimately the, one of the big differences, they’re operating businesses, right? I mean, they’re not that large. Apartment buildings aren’t, but they’re is I think, a specific sort of operational execution that matters a lot in hotels. So, you know, in invest, when investors are kinda looking at that, I mean, they, they should probably be not looking at it as nearly as passive as other real estate investments. Is that fair? I, I think that’s very fair because I think, you know, it, it shows what’s happened in terms of the market with real estate investment trust. Because I’ve sold my entire position in hotel real estate investment trust and, and as you probably know, if we look at real estate investment trust. Different categories in, in commercial real estate, hotels lag, which is fascinating because everything else we’ve been talking about explains why hotel returns tend to outperform other classes of commercial real estate. More volatility, but higher returns on average. If you can withstand the long period, uh, that you need to be an investor. On real estate investment trust, it’s the opposite. Hotels actually lag and, and I think it really is because of exactly what you’re talking about, which is that they really are like an operating business where there’s also real estate as opposed to a real estate play where it’s almost like there’s an annuity of rent that is very easily projected, uh, in hotels. You know, we, we. Project all the time how they’re going to perform. But you know, you know, I hope my projections are very good, but there’s always things that can COVID. For example, you know, now there’s a virus in, in India that you know might be coming and, you know, we don’t know, will this be substantial or will it be really minor in the Americas? We really don’t know. Uh, that won’t have a big effect on, on other classes of real estate investment trust, but. It could have a big effect in hotels, so, so the unknowns in hotels are very high. And then when you combine that with the fact that they are an operating business, which are very labor intensive and wage rates are going up. So the cost structure and the management of that cost structure becomes. Very important and the expertise of the hotel managers becomes very important. And so, yeah, like you say, other classes of commercial real estate or, or institutional real estate investments have an operational component. It’s much greater when it comes to hotels. So I actually have a friend who’s an, um, owns, uh, a few boutique hotels here in, in California, and he was telling me one of the things that he’s kind of worried about is, um, you know, they, they’re, they have some, um. Some mandates coming up with regard to, you know, minimum wage and, and all these things that, uh, hotel workers have to get, uh, give you just outta curiosity. I mean, most of my audience is not in California. I am, but have you heard about this? Can you tell us a little bit about those pressures? Yeah, I have heard about it. And there’s, there’s forces on the other side as well, namely the American Hotel and Lodging Association, which represents hotel owners, managers, and franchisers. And so they have a voice in these things as well. But the, the, the forest, particularly in places like California and, and in the west coast in general, we’ve seen it in Seattle as well. Um, you know, in, in terms of increasing minimum wages to rates that, that are shocking to me. Um, you know, that’s, that’s a big issue. You know, you don’t see it as much in the middle of the country, but you do see it on the coast and particularly in the, on the West Coast. So, you know, if we’re looking at projections, say into 2026 and, and perhaps beyond, we expect in many cases to be seeing higher growth in wage expenses than we expect to see growth in RevPAR, which is room revenue, preoccupied room, which is just occupancy times average daily rate. So the, the overall revenue is expected, at least in the short term, to grow more slowly. Than expenses and, and wages are really driving a lot of it. And then anything that’s affected by wages, so insurance, for example, property taxes, other expenses are really growing at this stage more than what we’ve seen in terms of revenue growth. So that’s, that’s a challenge right now. The, the question I think really then is how much will AI affect that and to what extent will guests become more comfortable with checking in? On an iPad type of a situation as opposed to seeing a person face to face, and there’s probably generational differences there. What it is forcing hotel operators to do is the same kinds of things that restaurant operators have been forced to do, which is find ways to use technology and actually have the guests face the technology and get the guests comfortable with that. In terms of things like check in and check out, you know, but still in hotels the rooms have to be cleaned and, and although there’s robots that. You know, they’re nowhere near what, where they need to be to actually clean Hotel guestroom jet, at least in any sort of economically viable way. But, you know, the long-term question is to what extent will the industry be adopting AI and other technology in order to address that issue? Because that’s what’s going to happen. It’s, it’s, you know, it’s not just going to be a situation where. The operators will accept paying higher wages and have the same number of employees in each hotel. Right. Um, branding, you know, sort of confusing to a lot of people. Not in the space, but you know, what role do hotel brands actually kind of play in, in protecting revenue and value? Um, and I guess when does a brand help an owner versus become a constraint? Yeah. You know, brands have been very important and, and I, I forget if I mentioned but of the, the big brand companies I’ve worked for three of them and, um. You know, they, they, they typically started as management companies. So originally companies like Hilton and Marriott primarily generated revenue through management fees. And so they own some of the real estate, although they’ve become asset light over the years and own very little, if any, anymore. Uh, but they do still manage hotels. So one thing that the brand companies do have is expertise in terms of management. That’s one of the fees that a branded hotel and a non-branded hotel would have as well, would be a management fee, which is usually expressed as a percentage of revenue. And sometimes there’s an incentive structure in there as well. But then there’s a franchise fee, which is just paying for the brand, and, and that’s usually as a percentage of total revenue, higher than the management fee. But what it does is it, it, it. Puts the property in a global distribution system, so the global distribution systems that brands like Marriott and Hilton and IHG and, and HIA have, uh, they. Generate heads and beds. You know, that’s, that’s the term we always, when I worked at Hyatt and Merritt, we always talked about heads and beds. Every night you’re trying to, trying to get people in the rooms. The brands do a lot to put heads and beds, you know, in a typical hotel with a good brand affiliation. Somewhere between probably a third and two thirds of the occupy rooms actually came in through the brand global distribution system, which historically was a toll free reservation system. And although the, you know, those still exist now, it’s really more of a focus on the online system and, and, and sometimes toll-free reservations and direct reservations. But, but that’s what the brand does. It, it, it ultimately is a generator of. So kind of just focusing on somebody who’s potentially thinking about hotels as an investment. So far, what I gleaned from you, and, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that timing probably isn’t perfect right now. We’re probably, you know, we’re probably in a, you know, a peak and you generally not a great idea to buy in peaks. Um. I personally, from what I understand, would stay outta California. You know, uh, you know, like my friend was saying that it was gonna make it very difficult for a lot of hotels to have their, you know, hotel restaurants even. And so he foresees like a lot of them having to close those down. Um, and then the, the next thing I think is, gosh, you really have to be cognizant of the, of the fact that, you know, work patterns are changing. And so maybe that’s not a good. Way to go, either. What other, what are some other big picture things that you think people ought to be thinking about as they evaluate the space? Yeah. Well, I think there’s a couple of things. One of which is. That is a street corner business. So it really depends on what street corner you’re in. Uh, I’ve done some research just on how hotels perform in university towns versus other locations because, for example, there are brands now called graduate hotels, which eventually was acquired by Hilton, uh, and, uh, scholar Hotels and, and these properties are university town hotels. They’re doing okay. You know, they’re, they’re doing okay. If you look at how universities operate, we’ve seen some Ivy League schools pay 60, $80 million or more just to make sure they keep that billion dollars a year coming in from the federal government that they, they get for research grants and, and we’ve seen, you know, look at what’s going on with NIL now in terms of, of university sports. Universities clearly are willing to. You gen willing to spend a lot of money to keep doing what they do, which is, you know, they, they generate a lot of research and I’m talking about. Big universities now, uh, you know, a lot of research and, and there’s a sporting business aspect to universities as well. So university towns are okay, and, and what I ultimately found in my research is they’re much less cyclical than the average. So, you know, we talk about the risk of hotels as things go up and things go down and things go up and down. That doesn’t happen as much in university towns. You know, big universities don’t close and, and don’t even substantially change their business model. So it really depends on, on where you’re located. And then there’s certain cities as well, you know, people, you know, I, I don’t have to go into detail about my last visit to San Francisco and how weird it was, and I was with students and, and told my female students don’t go out at night alone. I mean, it was, it was, it was really freaky, but. San Francisco now might be a place to invest. Now San Francisco probably has bottomed out. Uh, and the same might be true with New York. So, you know, it really depends on where you’re going. I, I think in general, yeah, you know, there’s, there’s concerns, but even so, you know, I think it’s still might be a good time to invest in. Good quality hotel companies, just, you know, in terms of the stock market and, and equity in, in businesses like Marriott and, and Hilton because their franchise fees and their management fees are a percentage of total revenue. So hotels that are not profitable, that are a member of those brand affiliations are still paying. Into those systems and you know, hopefully the goal is that these properties become profitable, but even while they’re not profitable, they owe franchise fees and in some cases management fees as well. So I think there are a lot of ways to still invest in the hotel business. It’s just what vehicles are being used and where. So, you know, it sounds a little overwhelming, um, for someone who, again, who’s new to the space. Any suggestions on how somebody might just learn more about this ecosystem and, you know, start to go down this path of potentially becoming, you know, a hotel investor? Yeah. Well, first thing is, you know, we talked about ai. AI is pretty good for helping people to learn. So if you wanna learn about the hotel business, you can go and have a really good conversation with chat GPT about what makes it click and where could the opportunities lie today. Uh, you know, I’ve gone over the past year from essentially not using AI at all to using it essentially every day. And so that’s a great way because that’ll access a lot of, there, there’s trade journals, for example, but it’ll access those things. Uh, the conference, like I went to last week, the America’s Lodging Investment Summit, which is in LA every year is a. Is a great place to learn as well. There’s, there’s wonderful sessions and that conference is attended by everybody from Anthony Capano, who’s the CEO of Marriott, down to people involved in real estate and investments in the hotels and, and who essentially make their living. Off of those as brokers, appraisers, consultants, asset managers and things like that. So, so there’s ways online to do it and there’s ways to do it actually by attending conferences as well. Yeah. A good broker as well. Right. I mean, you know, going back to my, my friend who, who’s become a very successful hotelier, the first one he bought, he threw a broker and he said he learned everything about hotels that he knows from that guy. Um. So that’s probably, it probably tells you something as well. Yeah. And, and there are some excellent hotel brokers. There’s some who are national in scope and some who are local in scope. So again, it depends on where you’re thinking you might wanna be investing. Uh, but, but there’s some great local brokers, but then there’s national firms like JLL and CBRE and Hunter, uh, that, you know, they have really good people who are very knowledgeable about the hotel business. Yeah. John, thanks so much for, uh, joining us here on Wealth Formula Podcast and giving us sort of an overview of the, uh, um, hotel, uh, real estate, uh, uh, asset class. You bet you make a lot of money, but are still worried about retirement. Maybe you didn’t start earning until your thirties. Now you’re trying to catch up. Meanwhile, you’ve got a mortgage, a private school to pay for, and you feel like you’re getting further and further behind. Now, good news, if you need to catch up on retirement, check out a program put out by some of the oldest and most prestigious life insurance companies in the world. It’s called Wealth Accelerator, and it can help you amplify your returns quickly, protect your money from creditors, and provide financial protection to your family if something happens to. The concepts here are used by some of the wealthiest families in the world, and there’s no reason why they can’t be used by you. Check it out for yourself by going to wealth formula banking.com. Welcome back to the show everyone. Hope you enjoyed and again, uh, hey hotels. Think about it. I guess. Uh, I continue. I will continue to do so, uh, especially given my buddy’s success in this space. Um. Although, I will tell you, I probably am not a boutique hotel guy. Um, you know, I don’t, I don’t know that I could make it super fancy, you know? And then on the other hand, you hear about these, uh, hotels that are. For the people traveling through and they’re not doing this so great. So maybe wait till that we hit that, um, that trough that he was talking about, he said we’re kind of at a peak right now. Anyway, that’s it for me. Uh, this week on Wealth Formula Podcast. This is Buck Joffrey signing off. If you wanna learn more, you can now get free access to our in-depth personal finance course featuring industry leaders like Tom Wheel Wright and Ken McElroy. Visit well formula roadmap.com.
Jason joins Gene Morris of Rebel Capitalist for a Q&A session. He discusses the shifting landscape of the property market under a new political administration, predicting a significant rise in sales volume. He advocates for income property over speculative assets like Bitcoin, highlighting the unique "multi-dimensional" returns and tax benefits found in real estate. Jason introduces his "inflation-induced debt destruction" strategy, explaining how fixed-rate mortgages allow investors to pay back loans with devalued currency during inflationary periods. He further categorizes locations into linear, cyclical, and hybrid markets, advising investors to prioritize boring, stable areas with favorable landlord laws. The conversation also explores emerging trends like co-living properties and the advantages of the United States market compared to international options. https://www.jasonhartman.com/properties/ #RealEstateInvesting #TurnkeyRealEstate #IncomeProperty #InflationInducedDebtDestruction #MortgageLockInEffect #RentToValueRatio #LinearMarkets #CoLiving #RealEstateROI #PropertyManagement #HousingMarket #WealthBuilding #MarketAnalysis #LandlordFriendly #InflationHedge #RealEstateStrategy #FinancialFreedom #UnitedStatesOfFraud #CashFlowIsKing #MultiDimensionalWealth #PropertyTracker #NorthwestIndianaRealEstate #ArbitrageOpportunity #FedPolicy #HousingSupply #AssetProtection #SpeculationVsInvestment Key Takeaways: 0:00 A quick update on the economy and housing 4:33 Housing supply and the multi-dimensional characteristics of income property 6:52 Bad business and the lock-in effect 9:03 Less 3% mortgage and a house in Illinois 11:53 Cyclical, linear and hybrid markets and the amazing opportunities for CO-LIVING 15:56 Pro Formas, Cashflow vs. Rent-To-Value ratio and IIDD 24:31 Due diligence must-have checklist 28:16 USA vs. overseas housing investments 28:44 New requirements for seller financing 30:27 Don't be so dogmatic- Steve Jobs 33:39 https://propertytracker.com/ Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class: Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com
In this podcast recorded at Buffini & Company's live event, Buffini Coaching Live, held in Las Vegas, Jan. 22, Brian Buffini shares an overview of how the real estate market has performed over the past year and what to expect in this coming year. Brian talks about why it is so important to understand and pace your business to the “seasonality of the customer.” He also stresses the importance of superior client service and why that will be one of the defining characteristics of those agents who succeed when others flee the industry. He also previews the company's reengineered year-long lead-generation program, the Blitz. This highly structured program has assets, videos, and resources designed to help agents fill their pipeline, with the goal of gaining at least one extra transaction a month. YOU WILL LEARN: Why the return to real estate's natural seasonality creates a major opportunity for prepared professionals. How the Blitz (and the Ultimate Year model) helps you generate leads, serve clients, and duplicate referrals, with the goal of leading to at least one extra transaction a month. Why agents who are committed to going the extra step for their clients will be the ones who succeed while others fleeing the industry. NOTEWORTHY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE: “There'll be hot markets, there'll be booms and busts, there always is, but we'll never see the conflagration of circumstances hit us like [it did in 2021 and 2022].” — Brian Buffini “We're going to help you generate 85% of your leads in 180 days.” — Brian Buffini “The Dupli-care System is while you're serving the client, you're also going to generate referrals from them.” — Brian Buffini “Have balance in your life while you grow your business. That's what coaching does.” — Brian Buffini “If you want to be in real estate, be in real estate. If you're going to sell real estate, prospect and present for real estate. Do a great job for customers, generate referrals, and live a great life for your family.” — Brian Buffini itsagoodlife.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.