Speaker 1: So the political you know, they're a right wing organization
Speaker 1: spreading the misinformation they reported. There's just, you know, some
Speaker 1: troubling security bugs found in some cybersecurity election software stuff.
Speaker 1: It's the elections and software. It's just a little hacking
Speaker 1: blind spot. Now, it's not a serious thing. And the
Speaker 1: coders are Ukrainian because that makes sense. Plus, the people
Speaker 1: at CNBC say the peak interest rate era is over.
Speaker 1: Here's what investors are watching. We'll talk with Zach Abraham
Speaker 1: about that. And also there's a diaper shortage and you
Speaker 1: won't believe why and the solution to this, maybe you will.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about this with the help of our YouTube
Speaker 1: channel YouTube dot com slash at Todd Herman and with
Speaker 1: the good graces of God Almighty.
Speaker 2: The Todd Herman Show is one hundred and disapproved by
Speaker 2: big pharma technocrats and tyrants everywhere. No from the high
Speaker 2: mountains of Free America. Here's the Emerald City exile God
Speaker 2: her Man.
Speaker 1: To day is a day the Lord has made in
Speaker 1: These are the time so which God has decided we
Speaker 1: shall live. It's wise council day. Even though I'm dressed
Speaker 1: in my beach clothes, It's wise council day. I got
Speaker 1: the note from your team, Zach. I'll tell them we'll
Speaker 1: edit this out now and we'll go through it. Only
Speaker 1: spend about sixteen hours to edit me into the wise
Speaker 1: council shirts, et cetera. We got the note from your team.
Speaker 1: How are you, brother.
Speaker 3: Doing good man? No complaints, good, no complaints.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw this, but you know
Speaker 1: there's this country, Brazil. You've been there.
Speaker 3: I've never been there. I've always wanted to go. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I've sure been there.
Speaker 1: So they have a judge there who's kind of seized
Speaker 1: control of the country and he's banned Twitter. Dash X
Speaker 1: has to shut it down. The so called Attorney General
Speaker 1: of Missouri, Keith Ellison. He's the guy who used to
Speaker 1: walk around with the ANTIFA handbook. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he's congratulating Brazil. He says, uh ubergodo, Brazil, Congratulations,
Speaker 1: well done. I mean he didn't come out and say
Speaker 1: for the censorship. But we obviously know what this means, right.
Speaker 3: I nothing says democracy like a century free speech buddy, So.
Speaker 1: Uh right, have you ever gotten that you can't say
Speaker 1: that from someone when you public speak or you do
Speaker 1: your podcast, your radio show. You've forgot that. You can't
Speaker 1: say that.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, well yeah, well there. For instance, I got
Speaker 3: a an email because when when COVID was coming out,
Speaker 3: I referred to it as the Kung Fu Flu, and
Speaker 3: I got a bunch of emails saying it was racist,
Speaker 3: and so I went on and issued a quote unquote
Speaker 3: apology that had me refer to it as the Kung
Speaker 3: Fu flu. About five more different lives. Just I'm just like,
Speaker 3: get out of here.
Speaker 1: I had for a while when I was doing the
Speaker 1: what did I start with Afternoon Drive in Seattle, then
Speaker 1: did the morning show. I had a pre recorded apology
Speaker 1: and it came with some sappy music.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I just want to say I've learned a lot in
Speaker 1: this process, and to everyone I've may heard, I want
Speaker 1: to say, I'm just I'm just gonna, you know, attempt.
Speaker 3: To do better.
Speaker 1: We can only learn from this. So I'm reaching out
Speaker 1: to members of the harmed communities, and so we had
Speaker 1: this kind of generic thing and then i'd have my
Speaker 1: producer put in just this terrible, bad voice. So I've
Speaker 1: reached out to memories of the community, and it was
Speaker 1: just not my voice at all. And the whole point
Speaker 1: is you never say sorry. I've learned a lot, I've reflected.
Speaker 1: I've met with some members of the affected communities, you know,
Speaker 1: and you never have the words I'm sorry. Leave your mouth,
Speaker 1: you find heart I apologize.
Speaker 3: Uh no, Well, I mean there's times, yeah, right, I yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm just a huge fan of apologies. I feel
Speaker 3: like it's especially when they're you know, when they're genuine. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I feel like they can just there's there's a I
Speaker 3: was actually talking with somebody this the other night. I
Speaker 3: am such a sucker for apologies, you know, I meaning
Speaker 3: somebody comes up and says, hey, man, I did you dirty?
Speaker 3: And I'm sorry about it?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Done? Game over, good, We're good, you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 3: it's just, uh, it's always been such a respector of it,
Speaker 3: and I think it. I think it's a I think
Speaker 3: it's an admirable quality. Yeah, necessary to maintain. Well, I mean,
Speaker 3: I've been married for twenty years, so I feel like
Speaker 3: that kind of creditates you guys could apologize.
Speaker 1: I think both people do, right, I mean, yeah, right,
Speaker 1: I think both people have to really and and part
Speaker 1: of that's, you know, meaning it I've never asked you this.
Speaker 1: I'll ask you this later in the show, but think
Speaker 1: about the worst screwing you ever got in business. Sorry
Speaker 1: for the bad language, but yeah, because I had this
Speaker 1: something happened to me in my internet radio startup, and
Speaker 1: it was a phenomenal lesson. But I also got this
Speaker 1: moment where I got to be the guy this guy
Speaker 1: had to come to to get something done at Microsoft
Speaker 1: and the guy who screwed me. Oh, and I tried
Speaker 1: it not to make it adventuring, but let's talk about that.
Speaker 1: I wan actually think about this, Zach. There was a
Speaker 1: thing the political reported and it's I mean, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: worry too much about it. Number One, we've got Ukrainians
Speaker 1: coding software for US for elections cybersecurity, So there's that.
Speaker 1: I think that's a good idea. And they decided then
Speaker 1: to leave in some kind of easter eggs in the code,
Speaker 1: backdoors and such. And one of the funny one of
Speaker 1: the funny things they did is they put in the
Speaker 1: Ukrainian national anthem right into the election software, just just
Speaker 1: to let us know, Hey, by the way, Zladimir, it.
Speaker 3: Is that's actually kind of funny.
Speaker 1: Right, But of course what that means is, look, we
Speaker 1: hit this in here and you didn't know it. And
Speaker 1: even the political is calling it a hacking blind spot
Speaker 1: that if they can do this and leave these holes,
Speaker 1: well they'd leave other holes.
Speaker 3: Right. I don't know how any rational human being draws
Speaker 3: any other conclusion, right, right?
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, and in our election system, honestly,
Speaker 1: and this, okay, here's the part we can't put on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Heads up, hey, production team, we're doing that part we
Speaker 1: can't put on the tubes. Is there anything in our
Speaker 1: election system that's actually set up so that you could
Speaker 1: actually prove fraud that is there any bit of it
Speaker 1: that you don't even have the base data?
Speaker 3: Yeah? You know, it's one of the things that I
Speaker 3: think that I haven't heard anybody really talk about this,
Speaker 3: but it's something that I've found kind of amazing and
Speaker 3: scary and mind blowing from the very beginning. Where any
Speaker 3: system that you don't have the ability to audit, right,
Speaker 3: like the ambiguity around it all where I'm sitting there going,
Speaker 3: wait a second, there isn't a master tape someone like,
Speaker 3: No one's like come on, like, and this isn't the
Speaker 3: way systems like this are designed, right, So like, why
Speaker 3: is it this is the one system now? I mean,
Speaker 3: I think there's some obvious answers, but why would where's
Speaker 3: the redundancy, where's the ability to look through? Where are
Speaker 3: the security? Like I you know, and and just to
Speaker 3: go to the people that here's what's wrong in this country.
Speaker 1: Right, like we need to have some music when you
Speaker 1: start a sentence like that, hold on, right, here's what's
Speaker 1: wrong with this country Zach Abram.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, like it's the angst back and forth, the
Speaker 3: two sides that you know, the two sides that really
Speaker 3: drives me nuts. Where if you take a step back
Speaker 3: and if you quote unquote believe in democracy, and if
Speaker 3: forty to fifty percent of the voting populace in this
Speaker 3: country think they got jobbed, why would you not be
Speaker 3: a proponent of a very easy way to go through
Speaker 3: and verify will because it was done correctly the first
Speaker 3: I'm like, that's not what you were saying. And George
Speaker 3: Bush was elected in two thousand and I'll sit back
Speaker 3: and say the exact same thing about then again, reasons
Speaker 3: that we should have it should be built in to
Speaker 3: every system we use, should be a really easy way
Speaker 3: to go back and check this stuff. And I mean,
Speaker 3: everybody knows that we have the technology and the capability
Speaker 3: to do it. There's a lack of a will, and
Speaker 3: the lack of a will sort of points to motivate, right,
Speaker 3: like meaning, right, why else would you?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: I had to fly once and I had lost my
Speaker 1: ID and I had to make this flight. I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: this isn't gonna happens. There's no stinking way this is happening.
Speaker 1: But I go to the airport. It's a business trip.
Speaker 1: I have to make the trip. Here's what's happened. I've
Speaker 1: lost my ID. So I'm gonna aask airline and I
Speaker 1: was premiere of premiere. You know what's your number? Sis? Okay,
Speaker 1: home address and your credit cards and phone number. And
Speaker 1: it took about an hour, but they got me on
Speaker 1: the plane. Now, if I was Hispanic and had skipped
Speaker 1: over the line of the country and had a bunch
Speaker 1: of MS thirteen tattoos of that special line, have you
Speaker 1: seen that the MSON thirteen line at the airports?
Speaker 3: Well, no, I'm assuming they give you not only to
Speaker 3: get you on the plane, they give you a free
Speaker 3: launch in fifteen hundred bucks on a debit card.
Speaker 1: Yeah, then you get to keep the plane sweet, right,
Speaker 1: so pro you can do this, but here's I'm going
Speaker 1: to relate this financially. And they'll talk about some financial
Speaker 1: news and they get this like the biggest screw job
Speaker 1: you've rid in business. This would be like you, let's
Speaker 1: say that you are thinking of buying a company or
Speaker 1: no better way, Chief Investments or Bulwark. You're thinking of
Speaker 1: investing in a company, and you guys are sitting down,
Speaker 1: you get the spreadsheets, they've sent you, the p and L.
Speaker 1: You guys pull it open. You're going, okay, wow, look
Speaker 1: at this growth. Wow, this is pressive, sensical, cost a good.
Speaker 1: And then you go, hold a second, what what currency
Speaker 1: is this in? Because there's no dollars signs And you
Speaker 1: call the company. Yeah, hey, listen, we've got the financials.
Speaker 1: What currency is this in? Well, that's the thing is
Speaker 1: we don't track it. Hold on, so some of this
Speaker 1: is rubles, some of this is dollars. We think there's dollars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got some time taiwand bought in there or
Speaker 3: or tilt tybot you.
Speaker 1: Know that's am I wrong? Or when you don't have
Speaker 1: the base of hey did you check their ID? They're
Speaker 1: sorry there what?
Speaker 3: Well? Yeah, well, especially for a system like voting, right
Speaker 3: like meaning if if, if, like push all the politics aside, right,
Speaker 3: if we're sitting down to to devise and design of
Speaker 3: voting system. Right by definition, integrated into the system is
Speaker 3: going to be an ability to you know, there's gonna
Speaker 3: be any fraud capabilities. There's gonna be alarms built in
Speaker 3: there if somebody steps over something. But more importantly, there's
Speaker 3: gonna be very easy audits in there because you have
Speaker 3: to verify what's going. It's just it is the most
Speaker 3: purposeful lack of ingenuity I've ever seen, like meaning you know,
Speaker 3: and it's the same like you said with the IDs,
Speaker 3: right like, this is not a political issue. Guys, you
Speaker 3: don't have to be a conspiracy theory theorist to sit
Speaker 3: there and ask yourself, wait a second, why wouldn't you
Speaker 3: want photo IDs to vote?
Speaker 1: Well, I took a phone call once from a very
Speaker 1: very irate guy on Russia's show God Rest of the
Speaker 1: Maha years ago, and this guy called me goes, you
Speaker 1: know what I hate about guys like you? Here's what
Speaker 1: I hate. You don't have any ideas and how to
Speaker 1: make this better? Oh, election fraud, election has stolen you.
Speaker 1: Like if I have some ideas, will you listen to them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you don't have any ideas. All right, here's my idea.
Speaker 1: Hold the election counting in casinos. Check the ID like
Speaker 1: you do when you go to casino, count the balance.
Speaker 1: With the eyes in the sky, you can spotlight every
Speaker 1: signature and compare it instantly to a database.
Speaker 3: Yeah, do fingerprint facial recognition for ID.
Speaker 1: All of it right there? Yep, there it is done.
Speaker 3: And I'm sorry. But here's the other thing like this
Speaker 3: is this is such a straw man argument on so
Speaker 3: many levels because if you do not have the wherewithal,
Speaker 3: the determination, or the ability to get a photo ID,
Speaker 3: then you shouldn't be voting. There was and I don't
Speaker 3: care what anybody else says, You're not alienating anybody. It's
Speaker 3: the most ridiculous statement I know.
Speaker 1: No way, So your wife has ID, Yeah she just.
Speaker 3: Got it last week, or she could vote in the
Speaker 3: upcoming election.
Speaker 1: But did you see there was Oh my gosh, I
Speaker 1: should have pulled this video, but it didn't know the
Speaker 1: discussion would go this way. There was a great video
Speaker 1: done in Harlem where a white guy went after Harlem
Speaker 1: and said, hey, how you doing. Hey, listen, do you
Speaker 1: know where the DMV's at Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's right there.
Speaker 1: It's six blocks up that where I go get an ID. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you have ID, Yeah, I have idea. I live in
Speaker 1: New York City. I have to have idea to live here.
Speaker 1: What do you think about politicians saying black people don't
Speaker 1: know how to get ID what you have to have idea?
Speaker 1: You know, every single black person they knew where the
Speaker 1: DMV was. Yeah, and every black person said, it's insulting,
Speaker 1: And of course it is. I want to get to
Speaker 1: some financial stuff because it fits in to me. There
Speaker 1: are so many things that people believe in this country,
Speaker 1: like that our elections are safe and secure. That's one
Speaker 1: thing they believe. Those are other things they believe. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about this in relation to these interests, because you
Speaker 1: got to help me understand this real quick. When Zach
Speaker 1: came into the studio when he was here in the
Speaker 1: High Mountains of Free America, he walked in and said,
Speaker 1: and I quote, wow, it smells like a thunder storm
Speaker 1: in here. And I said, joking, do you ever watch
Speaker 1: the podcast or listen to this?
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 1: I get his advice, but I'm just kind of surprised
Speaker 1: by it. If you have an Airbnb. If you have
Speaker 1: any business where the public enters, if you have public restrooms,
Speaker 1: don't tell the guy share the space with with the
Speaker 1: recording studio downstairs. It's a world class recording studios. Act
Speaker 1: seen it. It's beautiful guitars everywhere. His bathroom stunk to
Speaker 1: high stink in heaven, so gross. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: go around the neighbor and just apologize, because you could.
Speaker 1: I could go get you know what, I should have
Speaker 1: gone to get the eten pereoxy leaf two, slammed it
Speaker 1: in there and just let the just stinking bathroom just
Speaker 1: degrade into filth. But I didn't. I actually got out
Speaker 1: a liesole wrap or thing and cleaned and rubbed the floor.
Speaker 1: In any case, you don't have to do that. If
Speaker 1: you have an Airbnb or rental hotels, you run businesses
Speaker 1: that smell that, or you just want your house to
Speaker 1: smell absolutely fresh room people walk into it. Don't waste
Speaker 1: your money in an airfield because you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: replace the filters every single stink in year. For two
Speaker 1: to four undred bucks. Get the oxy Leaf to Thunderstorm
Speaker 1: device whole home coverage. I'll save you two hundred dollars
Speaker 1: plug it into the wall. In about three minutes, you
Speaker 1: will smell ozone because those three molecules go into the
Speaker 1: air and they eliminate the molecules that cause bad smells
Speaker 1: by bonding to them and changing their molecular structure. Go
Speaker 1: to edenperiodeals dot comment ry code Todd three and there
Speaker 1: it is a two hundred dollars savings And when people
Speaker 1: walk in your house, they'll probably say, wow, it smells
Speaker 1: like there was a thunderstorm in here, and then you
Speaker 1: can say, that's right. The Todd Herman shople We're working
Speaker 1: on one of these devices act that every hour when
Speaker 1: it produces enough ozone, it just goes with the Todd
Speaker 1: hermin shell because I think people want I think people
Speaker 1: want that in their houses, right, Sure, help me understand this.
Speaker 1: I got to get this is the FED sleepwalking into
Speaker 1: a policy mistake. Arbiton ARBDN analyst calls for faster easing
Speaker 1: of rates, and then I read in the same stinking
Speaker 1: research period, the peak interest rate is over. Here's what
Speaker 1: investors are watching. This comes from CNBC September. The US
Speaker 1: Federal Reserve is all but guaranteed to join the European
Speaker 1: Center Bank blah blah blah blah blah blah, and cutting
Speaker 1: key rates. Analysts are eyeing a broadly support of environment
Speaker 1: for equities to the rest of the year and beyond,
Speaker 1: but weren't of several key risks. Currency markets will continue
Speaker 1: to focus on short term rates expectations and the extent
Speaker 1: and pace of money monetary easing. I love that phrase,
Speaker 1: monetary easing. So help me break this down and understand it.
Speaker 1: Are they sleepwalking into a policy mistake? Or let me
Speaker 1: show you what I've learned at zach Abraham University. They
Speaker 1: only have two levers to pull and they've trapped themselves
Speaker 1: in this hell.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, So first of all, are they sleepwalking into
Speaker 3: a policy error? Look? By definition, that's conjecture. So if
Speaker 3: this guy knows the future, then he can make that statement.
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't think that. And his argument is
Speaker 3: they're not cutting enough. Okay. What I would say to
Speaker 3: him is based on what data, there's this NOE So
Speaker 3: that might be his opinion. He may end up being correct,
Speaker 3: but there's no data that backs that up. Okay. So,
Speaker 3: and here's the problem for let's have a little bit
Speaker 3: of grace and understanding for the FED as much as
Speaker 3: I pat pound on them, which I think they fully
Speaker 3: deserve it. But to be fair, Okay, you have to
Speaker 3: make policy decisions somehow, Okay, So the FED would much
Speaker 3: rather respond a little too late to things than respond
Speaker 3: prematurely to something that doesn't occur. Right, So, when you
Speaker 3: look at what we're dealing with, when you look at
Speaker 3: the deficits, when you look at unemployment, stock markets at
Speaker 3: all time highs, housing prices at all time highs, et cetera,
Speaker 3: et cetera, et cetera, does it look like the economy
Speaker 3: is slowly and it clearly is. Okay, but you can't
Speaker 3: what is the risk here? The real risk is inflation
Speaker 3: ramping again and going out of control, like we've talked
Speaker 3: about on this show, and I was just talking to
Speaker 3: clients about it yesterday. Look, we all sit there and
Speaker 3: we fear because for our entire lives, bad negative economic
Speaker 3: outcomes meant falling prices. Okay, rising prices are a much
Speaker 3: bigger problem. Okay, there much much harder to deal with,
Speaker 3: And so we should always look at inflation should be
Speaker 3: and it's really not. And this is one of the
Speaker 3: biggest policy mistakes I think the FED does make, which
Speaker 3: is we should be more concerned about inflation than we
Speaker 3: are deflation, right, and deflation caused serious problems. But at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, deflation is your currency value
Speaker 3: going up against other assets. How many how many countries
Speaker 3: around the world have gone under because their currency was
Speaker 3: too valuable? Yeah, nobody right now? Now. It can create
Speaker 3: some really ugly economic outcomes, breadlines. We saw what happened
Speaker 3: in the Great Depression. I'm not saying it's nothing we
Speaker 3: need to be worried about, but inflation is the is
Speaker 3: the real threat. Okay, when you're sitting there saying that
Speaker 3: the Fed should cut harder right now, that's based on
Speaker 3: where you think things are going. There's just no bad
Speaker 3: data to back that up. So I completely disagree with them.
Speaker 3: I think it would be a policy mistake if they
Speaker 3: cut quickly, and I think there's a big thing to
Speaker 3: say that even if they only cut twenty five basis
Speaker 3: points right now where everything is at, that's sort of
Speaker 3: a preemptive move too, because you're getting you're not getting
Speaker 3: signs from the labor market that you need a rate cut.
Speaker 3: You're getting signs of things slowing down. But remember they
Speaker 3: needed to slow down. Were not an economy that's going
Speaker 3: to grow at eight to nine percent a year, right,
Speaker 3: that's ridiculous. And if you grow that hot, it means
Speaker 3: you have a bunch of inflation. So no, I you know,
Speaker 3: I'll throw this in the pile of people talking completely
Speaker 3: out of their backsides with absolutely nothing to back it
Speaker 3: up for because, like I said, I don't know outcomes.
Speaker 3: I can't tell the future. He may end up being
Speaker 3: proven correct, but there's just nothing in the data that
Speaker 3: would warrant the FED to cut. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 3: I think they're a little premature on the rate cut.
Speaker 3: I understand it, but I think the I think the
Speaker 3: debate at the FED, and to be fair to them,
Speaker 3: it's kind of sounded like what this is what the
Speaker 3: debate has been, which is should we cut or not?
Speaker 3: These people calling for emergency rate cuts, I just there
Speaker 3: it's ridiculous. I mean, you've got a stock market trading
Speaker 3: at third I mean, housing prices at all time highs,
Speaker 3: stock prices at all time highs, gold at all time highs,
Speaker 3: unemployment at four point one percent. There's absolutely nothing in
Speaker 3: the data that would warrant a more.
Speaker 1: Aggressive cut except for one thing. November third, Well, now, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's right, because God willing, there will be a November third.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do you know, the ballots are going out
Speaker 1: next week in some states, next stinking week. The ballots
Speaker 1: are right right ear and right early, and often if
Speaker 1: they do the economy, they dropped the interest rates. This
Speaker 1: that's like snort and cocaine straight up your beak.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, Well, and then, like I said, the other
Speaker 3: thing that you got to consider here, and this is
Speaker 3: why that guy you just read, I'm sitting there just
Speaker 3: shaking my head. Dude, you're insane. Like the last time
Speaker 3: the Fed did this, that's what created ninety nine two thousand,
Speaker 3: That's what created that was the that was really the
Speaker 3: seed corn for that whole You know, you're you're I mean,
Speaker 3: you're cut right now. Even if they just cut twenty
Speaker 3: five BIPs, they're cutting into an environment where you've got
Speaker 3: full employment, record price record highs in housing, record highs
Speaker 3: in the stock market. It could get it could get
Speaker 3: absolutely nuts. So yeah, it's I just could not disagree
Speaker 3: with that guy anymore.
Speaker 1: So this is all folks can affect your retirement. To
Speaker 1: understand that your retirement portfolio was not built in all
Speaker 1: likelihood you're ten to fifteen years five ten fifteen years
Speaker 1: for retirement. It wasn't constructed for times such as these
Speaker 1: where there are no rules and the rules are there
Speaker 1: are no rules. So that account that you've been creating
Speaker 1: and you've been living and you've been counting on could
Speaker 1: be set up to be really, really risky. And this guy,
Speaker 1: Zach Abraham at Borer Capital Management, is obsessed with risk
Speaker 1: management by actively managing all portfolios which can reduce risk
Speaker 1: and volatility. That's where my money's at with Zach and
Speaker 1: all most of it. He won't let me put it
Speaker 1: all there because he says, what if I have a
Speaker 1: bad year. See, that's risk management. That's being consistent. Other
Speaker 1: people would do that, they'd say give us all your
Speaker 1: money and your kids too, plus your house and all
Speaker 1: the other things. It just didn't do that at Bower.
Speaker 1: He's putting on a free live webinar. This is the
Speaker 1: twenty sixth of September, and it's really going to be
Speaker 1: about these current events and about how it creates risk
Speaker 1: and how Bulwark navigates this. These are free, but you
Speaker 1: have to registered to attend. Go to Know Your Risk
Speaker 1: radio dot com. That's kanow Know your Risk Radio dot
Speaker 1: com or call eight six six seven seventy nine risk.
Speaker 1: He'll answer questions. Zach's a teacher at heart. And if
Speaker 1: you come away from this saying, hey, I can do
Speaker 1: this on my own, he'd leave you with his blessings.
Speaker 1: Got her go get it done. Maybe you can do
Speaker 1: this for me. I'm not into on the job training
Speaker 1: when retirement is just from the corner. So it's no
Speaker 1: your Risk radio dot com. And now because the government
Speaker 1: urges us to do this, A kind disclaimer from my
Speaker 1: friend Russ Simpok.
Speaker 4: Investment advisory services offered through Track Financial loc and SEC
Speaker 4: registered investment advisor. The opinions expressed in this programmer for
Speaker 4: general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide
Speaker 4: specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any
Speaker 4: specific security. Any references to performance of security so it
Speaker 4: thought to be materially accurate and actual performance may different
Speaker 4: investments involved risk and are not guaranteed. Past performance doesn't
Speaker 4: guarantee future results. Track twenty four three zero eight.
Speaker 1: There it is, Thank you, Russ, Zach. Here's the headline
Speaker 1: for your fund finance and tell me if this indicates
Speaker 1: anything to you in the Way of Worldview. It's from
Speaker 1: Yahoo Finance. America is facing a diaper crisis, and the
Speaker 1: anti abortion movement may not be helping. I I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I imagine this sometimes and it makes me a bad person.
Speaker 1: And I'm just imagining judgment day and I'm next in line,
Speaker 1: and I know, you know, like the Lord Jesus, and
Speaker 1: there's probably not a line because he can do all
Speaker 1: things at once, but I'm imagining this line and I'm
Speaker 1: watching the Lord Jesus looks up and me like, hey,
Speaker 1: but you're next, You're next, And he's saying to someone, Okay,
Speaker 1: but why all the abortions? Why did you kill all
Speaker 1: the babies? He goes, look, dude, diaper shortage. There was
Speaker 1: a stink in diaper shortage. I had to kill the babies.
Speaker 1: And the Lord's response to this won't be exactly what
Speaker 1: like that's why you're not coming in. It would have
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I yes, hey there. I don't think that there's
Speaker 3: a I don't think that there's a problem we current
Speaker 3: currently face in this country that cannot be fixed by
Speaker 3: murdering more babies, right.
Speaker 1: Like that's due me.
Speaker 3: You listen these people talk about it, and you're just
Speaker 3: going right. The people pro creating so that our society
Speaker 3: lives on is the problem. And here's one thing I
Speaker 3: was going to say this, and this is a warning
Speaker 3: for everybody, because I've even seen it with some of
Speaker 3: our clients. There is a big disconnect right now in
Speaker 3: the way that people are viewing markets and financial matters
Speaker 3: and the way they're viewing the culture as a whole.
Speaker 3: I cannot tell you how many people I know, or
Speaker 3: like I said, even clients of ours who are sitting
Speaker 3: there going we came to you for risk management. Nothing
Speaker 3: makes sense, Everything's all up there. But why aren't we
Speaker 3: in this stock? Why aren't we in that stock? Why
Speaker 3: why aren't we chasing the market? And you sit there
Speaker 3: and go, who wha, whoa, whoa. Don't be of two minds? Okay,
Speaker 3: why are you here? Why are you talking to us? Okay?
Speaker 3: If you think it's all because we're going off the
Speaker 3: rails and we're not making any sense as a culture,
Speaker 3: and you see our government doing irresponsible things, what you're
Speaker 3: telling me is it shocks you that irresponsible things look
Speaker 3: better right now, right like you know, like perfect example
Speaker 3: of this last two days, over the last two trading days,
Speaker 3: gold is flat, maybe slightly up over the last two days.
Speaker 3: Market's been getting annihilated. Price of oil has been hit hard. Okay,
Speaker 3: So gold is slightly up, price of oil gets hit hard.
Speaker 3: That's nirvana for gold mining companies. Right, input costs are
Speaker 3: going down, thing they sell is going up in price. Right,
Speaker 3: it's nirvana. Okay. Price of the average gold company has
Speaker 3: been slammed by five to six percent over the last
Speaker 3: couple of days. Right, And people people are like, why
Speaker 3: why do we own that? And I go, they go,
Speaker 3: it's down and I go, yeah, I know, they're like,
Speaker 3: but why why why do we own it? Because they're
Speaker 3: making record amounts of profit and we're buying them for
Speaker 3: pennies on the dollar. And you say, They're like, but yeah, Zach,
Speaker 3: it's not going up. And I go, do you think
Speaker 3: that if this corporation continues to do things the way
Speaker 3: that they're doing them and continues to generate ever higher
Speaker 3: profits and margins and revenues, do you think that that
Speaker 3: stock price is going to keep going down? Okay? So
Speaker 3: are you looking at reality? Are you really surprised that
Speaker 3: we live in a culture that isn't looking at real value?
Speaker 3: Does that surprise you do you also think that to
Speaker 3: end up on the right side of things out of
Speaker 3: this period of insanity, however long it lasts. Do you
Speaker 3: think doing the things that everybody else is doing is
Speaker 3: going to get you there? Or do you think it's
Speaker 3: going to require some discipline? Do you think you're gonna
Speaker 3: have to hold on to things that maybe aren't being
Speaker 3: appreciated right now because society has lost its mind and
Speaker 3: it has no moral tether?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: What do you think the other thing? Have you learned
Speaker 3: that concept in life that ending up in the best
Speaker 3: place is often made up of making the hardest choices,
Speaker 3: exercising the most discipline. Right? Does it always feel good?
Speaker 3: Does getting up in the morning and going to work
Speaker 3: out always feel good? Why do you do it because
Speaker 3: it puts you in a good place at the end
Speaker 3: of the deal? Right? Investings is the same way. If
Speaker 3: you're in the right things right now, you're probably pulling
Speaker 3: your hair out. I know we are too, okay, But
Speaker 3: at the same time, why would you expect the rules
Speaker 3: of that game to be any different than the rest
Speaker 3: of the culture. And if you want to raise the
Speaker 3: best kids, if you want to have a successful marriage,
Speaker 3: if you want to have a successful portfolio. Guys, I'll
Speaker 3: tell you this right now, a really easy proxy that
Speaker 3: you should tell whatever society and culture is telling you
Speaker 3: to do to get that done, do the opposite. Right,
Speaker 3: It's almost that simple. Right now now. Doesn't mean it's
Speaker 3: going to feel good right now, right, because we're in
Speaker 3: the doctor's strow, feel good type of deal. Right. The
Speaker 3: only thing you can't stand for is telling somebody that
Speaker 3: something they're doing is inappropriate. Right, It's an Alice in
Speaker 3: Wonderland deal. We can believe as many as six impossible
Speaker 3: things before breakfast, right, and yet we turn around and go, well,
Speaker 3: but why is it my portfolio performing up to the
Speaker 3: S and P five hundred and go well? Because it's
Speaker 3: on crack and we're looking for real value. Right. We
Speaker 3: remember years like nineteen ninety nine when the Nasdaq was
Speaker 3: up one hundred percent in Berkshire Hathway was down twenty
Speaker 3: five percent. Why because it was real, It had real
Speaker 3: things going on. It wasn't just conjecture and smoke. And
Speaker 3: I'll tell you right now, man, I just it's one
Speaker 3: of those things, you know, And is it? No? It stinks.
Speaker 3: I want to see stuff go up every single day, right,
Speaker 3: But what you know and we should all know this
Speaker 3: inherently is in periods of times of insanity, doing the
Speaker 3: right thing feels very painful. Why do we do it?
Speaker 3: Because it always ends up good?
Speaker 1: Right, right right?
Speaker 3: And same can be said a culture and that I mean,
Speaker 3: I just everybody's lost their minds, and including people that
Speaker 3: get it culturally, are buying into it over and you're
Speaker 3: sitting there going, guys, no, no, you know, if you're meeting.
Speaker 1: You're getting it culturally. Men are not women. The elections
Speaker 1: are not secure. The FDA and the CDC are not
Speaker 1: our friends, nor is pharma. But dang it, that nvidiot man,
Speaker 1: there's no right right, that's that's so huge in that
Speaker 1: little gold company. Why would you write and for this example,
Speaker 1: I'm not buying an electric car. They can do all
Speaker 1: the mandates in the world. They're getting rid of the
Speaker 1: gas stoves. I'm not playing. But you want me to
Speaker 1: buy local utilities, regional utilities right right? Well yeah, because
Speaker 1: see the government's forcing people to do these things, and
Speaker 1: these local utilities are going to But but what did
Speaker 1: you see what Nvidio did?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Right, I'll give you this because there's a less complicated
Speaker 1: example of this in my life is. There are days
Speaker 1: where I go pretty nuts on caffeine and I don't
Speaker 1: do it as much as I used to. But no, honestly,
Speaker 1: like the other day, we did my birthday workouts, and
Speaker 1: my birthday workout is always a major, major workout, and
Speaker 1: this year it was a pleasant surprise of a one
Speaker 1: nine and sixty seven meter run in the air runner
Speaker 1: with my sealfit pack on. And then times, yeah, good times,
Speaker 1: eight rounds of twenty four overhead squats and presses and
Speaker 1: pull ups and see burpies, box jumps, something else and
Speaker 1: then to buy out was a row and good times.
Speaker 1: Had to get that done in under fifty seven minutes
Speaker 1: and all that, so it's good times. And on that
Speaker 1: day I juiced a little bit on the caffeine, So
Speaker 1: get done with that. Tell coach what's next. I'm on
Speaker 1: for something else and I'm heading home, Zach. I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna go for a five mile run.
Speaker 1: I'm so ready. No, No, I'm gonna swim. No, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna swim and lift. And I'm I'm pulling in. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna swim and lift. I'm gonna get my kettlebells. I'm
Speaker 1: heading down to the beach. Swim lift, swim lift, swim lift.
Speaker 1: I go inside again. You know, I gotta eat first,
Speaker 1: so I sit down and eat, and you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna sit down for a second, and then
Speaker 1: I can feel it.
Speaker 5: Oh, caffeine's leaving me. Oh yeah, I got a decision
Speaker 5: to make. Now I gotta chase the caffeine. I'm like
Speaker 5: going to the stove heating up some coffee and I'm drink.
Speaker 5: I can tell I'm late.
Speaker 1: I missed the wave. And next thing you know, I'm
Speaker 1: sitting to my wife. I'm I'm take a nap. Then,
Speaker 1: I mean and it always fools me. I always think
Speaker 1: I'm at the crest, man, I'm going to ride this thing.
Speaker 1: And you can see the financial metaphor for this, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think people can learn a lot from how people
Speaker 1: who are wise and smart and have been learned through
Speaker 1: you know, hard things that have happened to you. I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you in a second to talk about
Speaker 1: to the degree that you can like the worst screwing
Speaker 1: you ever took in business and how that ended and
Speaker 1: what you learned from is. And then I'll relate this story.
Speaker 1: I think you get a kick out of this this
Speaker 1: thing that happened to me back in the internet radio days.
Speaker 1: It was probably not the worst screwing ever took. That
Speaker 1: was when I learned that there was a member of
Speaker 1: my board of directors who wasn't voting his own shares.
Speaker 1: He hadn't invested in his own money. He'd actually another
Speaker 1: venture capital firm had backed him, and that venture capital
Speaker 1: firm had a competing interest wow, and caused this guy
Speaker 1: to say no to a six no, like sixty to
Speaker 1: eighty million dollar acquisition from Microsoft. It only would have
Speaker 1: put like twelve million in my pocket. So right, it's no, biggie,
Speaker 1: it's not life changing money. It's not like I care.
Speaker 1: But we'll talk about this in a second. Zach and
Speaker 1: I have some friends in common. Some of them have
Speaker 1: passed on, some are still very much here. One of
Speaker 1: our friends in common is Tim Krukshank, the founder and
Speaker 1: CEO of Bone Frog Coffee. But at since we talked
Speaker 1: about Tim, I need to check in with him. You know,
Speaker 1: he lost his wife, Liz a few months ago. Coffee
Speaker 1: company lives on. His girls had stepped in and really
Speaker 1: stepped up writing notes to customers, et cetera. I do
Speaker 1: want to tell you something about bone fog as you
Speaker 1: head into the wintertime or the fall, is if you
Speaker 1: have trouble waking up in this period of time. I
Speaker 1: was just mentioning caffeine. I am a little bit juiced
Speaker 1: today because I've had two of the door Kicker roasts.
Speaker 1: Door Kicker is a light roast. And if you'd come
Speaker 1: to me before door Kicker was created and said try
Speaker 1: light rose coffee, I would laugh at you, point at you,
Speaker 1: call you names, belittle you, disrespect you, perhaps kick you
Speaker 1: in the ankle. But having had the door Kicker brand,
Speaker 1: I can tell you now I'm a convert. It's a
Speaker 1: light roast, but it's very tasty, non bitter, and it
Speaker 1: has the highest caffeine load of all the bone Frog coffees.
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite roasts. And then again, if
Speaker 1: you're still in hot weather and it was like ninety
Speaker 1: two degrees earlier, maybe eighty nine when I was out
Speaker 1: taking some sun in North Idaho, there's still the ice coffee.
Speaker 1: You put some pouches in water in your fridge overnight
Speaker 1: and you get an incredibly rich ice coffee. Go to
Speaker 1: Bonefrog Coffee dot com. Slash Todd use promo Coot Todd
Speaker 1: to get ten percent off your first purchase fifteen percent
Speaker 1: off subscription coffee because of who Tim is, retired Navy
Speaker 1: Seal Buds instructor. Every single bag says God Country Team
Speaker 1: on it, and bone Frog itself is the insignia of
Speaker 1: fallen Navy Seals, Bonefrog, Coffee, dot Com sash dot. So Zach,
Speaker 1: I know we can't name them all, but I've I've
Speaker 1: actually had a very you know, in business, I've rarely
Speaker 1: taken really hard screwings. Really just got messed with or
Speaker 1: cheated that it wasn't cheating on my board of directors.
Speaker 1: And that guy apologized to me later I should have
Speaker 1: told you, and probably he was breaking some sort of
Speaker 1: aiduciary thing and didn't tell me. But there was one
Speaker 1: guy who came in effectively tried to steal our company.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you about that. You tell me the worst
Speaker 1: kind of like screwjob you ever had in business.
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny because it's really a double sided coin.
Speaker 3: So it was a total screw job, and yet it
Speaker 3: was the best thing that ever happened to me. So
Speaker 3: before we started Bulwark, I had a partner that I
Speaker 3: was working with and we had very complimentary skills, and
Speaker 3: so he was doing well on his own, but when
Speaker 3: we started working together, the results were really pretty amazing
Speaker 3: for both of us. And it was one of those
Speaker 3: deals where the excitement for on his side lasted as
Speaker 3: long as to where I think that he thought that
Speaker 3: he had learned from me kind of you know what
Speaker 3: value brought to the table, and I ended. Yeah. I
Speaker 3: ended up getting a call from him when I was
Speaker 3: in uh the hospital hospital with my youngest child about
Speaker 3: three three weeks after he was born, he developed pretty
Speaker 3: brutal case RSV and spent uh and spent seven days
Speaker 3: in the in the NICU and uh it was while
Speaker 3: I was in the hospital with my my son, No, Yeah,
Speaker 3: that he called me and said he wanted to part ways. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and uh.
Speaker 1: Did you say, do you know I'm in the hospital
Speaker 1: with my son?
Speaker 3: No? No. It caught me off guard, but it was
Speaker 3: also one of those moments where you went, Okay, I see,
Speaker 3: I see who you are and what you're about, and
Speaker 3: this really stinks for me, but yeah, I'm a big
Speaker 3: believer in that hole when somebody tells you who you are,
Speaker 3: believe him, you know. And so no, I I looking
Speaker 3: back on it. I'm actually proud of it. I didn't
Speaker 3: get bitter about it, didn't didn't didn't freak out at him,
Speaker 3: just went to go on my on my own way,
Speaker 3: and then eventually took my experience from that, from what
Speaker 3: I learned from that deal, and my wife and I
Speaker 3: started bullwork. So, like I said, it's it was not cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah it was. It was a pretty low blow, but
Speaker 3: you know, it ended up being It ended up being
Speaker 3: the best thing that ever happened to me. So it's
Speaker 3: one of those deals you can't really you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: I always feel like that's how things work, Like, I
Speaker 3: feel like that's how things work out a lot, you know,
Speaker 3: which is there's so many times where these unwelcome changes
Speaker 3: come into life and you look back on it a
Speaker 3: few years later and you're like, thank god.
Speaker 1: Well it sounds like you were unequally yoked. I mean
Speaker 1: that's not a very Christian behavior, right, yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, and that's not what that that's not what that
Speaker 3: person would have said. Oh yeah, but this is business.
Speaker 1: Right, So but that's it. There is no this is
Speaker 1: business in church's church. No, I agree, And it can't
Speaker 1: work that way or you're not really walking into the
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus when he saw the
Speaker 1: temple and they were doing all the trading in the temple,
Speaker 1: he didn't go, well, yeah, that's but that's business, right,
Speaker 1: I mean you got to you gotta be able to
Speaker 1: raise money for the temple, So it's okay. He didn't
Speaker 1: say that at all.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, And I've always despised that when people say that,
Speaker 3: because you know, it's just business not personal. How I
Speaker 3: put bread on my table for my family is very
Speaker 3: personal to me. Yeah, and I think it's personal to everybody.
Speaker 3: And more importantly, I think it's like the ultimate morality,
Speaker 3: uh like unvailer, right, is don't tell me how you behave.
Speaker 3: Let me see you. Let me see how you behave
Speaker 3: when money's online.
Speaker 1: Right, let me see your behavior when money's on the
Speaker 1: line or it's existential. You're under great periods of stress,
Speaker 1: then then I know you have morals.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: If those morals go away during times of stress, then
Speaker 1: I know that you have stress, and I know that
Speaker 1: you have some things you like to do, you prefer
Speaker 1: to do, but you don't actually have morals.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, yeah, because yeah, because pressure and heat unveils character.
Speaker 1: Right, exactly.
Speaker 3: It's who you really are exactly, and so you're not
Speaker 3: the decisions you make in the way you act when
Speaker 3: everything's rolling your way. It's like, let me see you
Speaker 3: under some pressure and under the gun, and then that's
Speaker 3: you know. And I teach that to my football kids
Speaker 3: all the time, which I'm like, Hey, the reason we
Speaker 3: drill this, the reason we work this in so much,
Speaker 3: is when you're tired, when we're down, when things are
Speaker 3: up against us, this is our real DNA and this
Speaker 3: will be what comes out yep. Right. Conversely, you know,
Speaker 3: if that's your real DNA, it's going to show up eventually.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I'm getting ready for a seal fit, which is just
Speaker 1: over two weeks away, and I know, I know there's
Speaker 1: going to be a periods of time in there where
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to turn the my cohort of
Speaker 1: guys and go, guys, I feel like I'm going to quit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And we've had this discussion up front. Our coach just said, hey,
Speaker 1: don't be the guy that hides that you hide, that
Speaker 1: you stew on it. It builds up in your mind.
Speaker 1: And I don't know that this is a Christian or not.
Speaker 1: I haven't asked the question, I guess I could they
Speaker 1: know I am. It's obviously in my bio and I
Speaker 1: talk about all time. I would have turned to the
Speaker 1: Lord the Holy Spirit, but I have these men around me.
Speaker 1: And he said, be the one to step up and say, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I am feeling like I'm going to quit. Let your
Speaker 1: team talk, you know, no, let me take your ruck
Speaker 1: for a bit, like I'm good. It's a long ruck.
Speaker 1: I'll carry you know, you recover, maybe get me later.
Speaker 1: That's something that we need to be able to do
Speaker 1: as well as morals is confessing this weakness. Right, I'm
Speaker 1: at a period of weakness and I need your help.
Speaker 1: I need you to step in. I need to lean
Speaker 1: on you a little bit. That's part of what they're
Speaker 1: trying to get across in this experience. So let me
Speaker 1: tell you mine. When I had the Internet Radio Company
Speaker 1: and with CEO, we had great backers Draper Fisher, Jervinsen
Speaker 1: and Watsats Ventures and Utah Ventures and some other companies vcs,
Speaker 1: and we were at this period of time where the
Speaker 1: company done super well. We had revenues other people didn't have.
Speaker 1: We had ad insertion technology other people didn't have, and
Speaker 1: I got a call from one of the big, big
Speaker 1: funds in Silicon Valley. We're deeply interested. We'd like to
Speaker 1: see if we could lead your b round. Okay, So
Speaker 1: I fly down and of this meeting, and the guy
Speaker 1: takes me aside. His name is Peter, and he takes
Speaker 1: me aside and says, hey, I got a question for you.
Speaker 1: Are you set on being CEO for life? I go no.
Speaker 1: In fact, I don't think I'm the right guy to
Speaker 1: take the company to the next stage. I'm an inventor
Speaker 1: or product guy. I'm actually I'm thinking about bringing in
Speaker 1: a CEO who could actually grow the company. Right, it's
Speaker 1: a different stage of company. Okay, there's a guy here.
Speaker 1: He's going to join our fund and invest some money,
Speaker 1: but he's going to just be observing. Okay. So this
Speaker 1: guy was a big deal in the radio business, and
Speaker 1: I recognize his name right away. So he sits for
Speaker 1: all the meetings and very complimentary, et cetera. And so
Speaker 1: we get done. Peter says, you know what, we like it, man,
Speaker 1: We like it a lot. We'd like to fly up
Speaker 1: Monday and take a look at Hey, by the way,
Speaker 1: what do you think of Eric? It seems great what
Speaker 1: would you think of him as CEO? Look at that interesting,
Speaker 1: don't know. They come up Monday and he brings his
Speaker 1: chief technical guy and we sit the meetings. We have
Speaker 1: to set the schedule. Eric's gonna go have these meetings.
Speaker 1: The Peter and the tech guy, They're gonna go have meetings.
Speaker 1: I get a email from my CTO Todd. This guy
Speaker 1: wants a copy of our source code, an actual copy. Yes, no,
Speaker 1: absolutely not. Well he says he needs it to make
Speaker 1: an evaluation. No, absolutely not. Then I get a note
Speaker 1: from my longest term best friend in whose home I lived,
Speaker 1: whose dad taught me the radio business. You have to
Speaker 1: get in here. Eric is trying to take the company
Speaker 1: away from you. So he'd gone behind the scenes and
Speaker 1: had drawn my friends together, lifelong friends, and said, look,
Speaker 1: let's be honest. Todd doesn't do anything here. You guys
Speaker 1: are the one who built this, You run it. Why
Speaker 1: is he soaking up all the equity? And my friend said,
Speaker 1: you're an idiot, Like Todd designed this whole thing. Everything
Speaker 1: here came out of his mind. We built it for him,
Speaker 1: but he absolutely designed it. He is the mind behind this.
Speaker 1: And they said, you got to get in here. He's
Speaker 1: saying he wants you out. So I go knock on
Speaker 1: the door, open it, Eric, get out. I know what
Speaker 1: you're doing. Get out. I go and get the VC
Speaker 1: and the tech guy leave.
Speaker 2: It.
Speaker 1: Turns out On plays to me, you're making a big mistake.
Speaker 1: I'm like, we know what you're doing. They later went
Speaker 1: and launched a company and they took our name and
Speaker 1: put it all over their website in their code so
Speaker 1: you couldn't see it publicly, but in their source code,
Speaker 1: so anytime someone was searching for the dial, they were
Speaker 1: trying to make that in there. We saw that right away.
Speaker 1: Then I get a phone call from Earthlink. We had
Speaker 1: a huge deal with Earthlink. We provided them internet radio,
Speaker 1: they provided his distribution. The boss lady calls me from Earthlink.
Speaker 1: She goes Todd, I know we've got a five year contract.
Speaker 1: I know it's exclusive, but I gotta tell you. Ericson
Speaker 1: here and he's offered me one million dollars to be
Speaker 1: my internet radio provider. I go, so, hold on a second.
Speaker 1: He's offering to pay you to provide a service. Yes,
Speaker 1: take the money upfront, all of it. Give him six
Speaker 1: months to launch. To your satisfaction, it has to have
Speaker 1: all the functionality of our company, all of it. You're
Speaker 1: gonna let me out of the contract. I'm gonna send
Speaker 1: you an email. Here's what I'm gonna let you do.
Speaker 1: She took the money. Six months later, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: anything near what we have. She comes back to me
Speaker 1: and I say, I'll take some of that Eric money
Speaker 1: and uh, we'll use that to do some promotions. She
Speaker 1: gave some of that to me. Long long story later,
Speaker 1: I'm at Microsoft and I was general manager of Media
Speaker 1: Strategy Monization. That was a field title. Is really just
Speaker 1: a kind of senior director guy, but a cool field title.
Speaker 1: And a guy was in there stelling some tech. It
Speaker 1: did some streaming. So guess whose desk it comes across?
Speaker 1: Little me. I look at the email chain and I
Speaker 1: see the name, and so I call him and introduce myself. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Todd Herman. Follow the phone off speaking and this
Speaker 1: is exactly what I hear. Oh god, hey, how are you.
Speaker 3: Wait?
Speaker 1: Are you the decision maker on this? Probably? Yeah, So listen.
Speaker 1: Can I get you go ahead and fly out to
Speaker 1: Seattle like to have an in person discussion? Won would
Speaker 1: you like me there this afternoon? He said, you're kidding
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, I'm kidding. I am willing to look
Speaker 1: at the tech, but I'm also going to write a
Speaker 1: note back to the chain saying you're the most unethical
Speaker 1: person with whom I've ever dealt in my career in business.
Speaker 1: So I guess, he goes, well, I guess there's no point.
Speaker 1: I go, I don't know, are you lying about the tech?
Speaker 1: They might still buy the tech, but they're not gonna
Speaker 1: buy it from you, bro. And he said, this was
Speaker 1: during the King of the Universe time. I really apologize.
Speaker 1: I really apologize, I said, except your apology. Is he
Speaker 1: going to send that email? Yes, I have a fiduciary
Speaker 1: duty to the shareholders Microsoft to say you're a very
Speaker 1: unethical man. That was probably the worst attempt at a
Speaker 1: screw job that ever happened. But again, it came back
Speaker 1: solid because it proved what we had was not easy
Speaker 1: to build. We spent a lot of time designing the system.
Speaker 1: There's a reason that it was the best system at
Speaker 1: the time. It makes sense. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3: The thing that cracks about those scenarios and it always
Speaker 3: seems to play out like this, as you sit there
Speaker 3: and you look at the guy and you go, have
Speaker 3: you ever sat back and gone back and taken an
Speaker 3: inventory on that whole deal, because had you played it
Speaker 3: straight and just partnered and not, we all would have
Speaker 3: made way more money, right, we all would have made
Speaker 3: more money. But just you were like my grandfather. You
Speaker 3: say you're too smart by half, right, right?
Speaker 1: I love that saying, Yeah, look, why take twenty five
Speaker 1: percent of a company that could be worth one hundred million,
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty million bucks when you can take
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of a company that's that's gone in
Speaker 1: eight months.
Speaker 3: Because they're because they're they're and he's the same way
Speaker 3: that my partner was. Because they're those people that whatever
Speaker 3: when when you're doing a deal with them, whatever is
Speaker 3: left on the table is a net loss to them.
Speaker 3: That's the way that they see it. Right, So whatever
Speaker 3: they don't take of the entire pie, it's not it
Speaker 3: isn't fair, it isn't proper incentives, it's everything as binary.
Speaker 3: They either get it or they don't. And if they
Speaker 3: don't get it, all they see that as losing something
Speaker 3: and it's just the way they are.
Speaker 1: That's an eloquent explanation of business narcissism.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, it's Okay, to have a good deal for everybody.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be a killer deal for you.
Speaker 3: Right, it's the best kind of business. I mean, Like
Speaker 3: I was telling a young guy this the other day.
Speaker 3: I go build a reputation for people doing well when
Speaker 3: they work with you. Like, if you want to have
Speaker 3: a successful career, be known as the guy that does
Speaker 3: good deals and people make money with him. Right, that's
Speaker 3: a wonderful reputation.
Speaker 1: App It's one way of your life.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Always appreciate you coming on, my brother, Thank you for
Speaker 1: the wise counsel. Thank you for sharing that moment in
Speaker 1: your life. It was hard, but led the good things
Speaker 1: and remember this, God can make good out of anything.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you, my friend. This is the Todd Herman Shaw.
Speaker 3: Please go be
Speaker 1: Well, be strong, be kind, Please make every effort to
Speaker 1: walk in the light of Christ.