Why Discounts Work, Teams Win, and Bryan’s Ego is Out of Control

This week, we’re back with questionable spending habits, team-building truths, and a podcast host who might need an intervention.

Here’s the scoop:

Jimmy’s coupon confession: It took 60 days, a Facebook group, and a 10% discount for Jimmy to finally buy a 4K camera he actually needed.

John’s team reality check: If your team wouldn’t follow you into the next business, are you even leading? Build relationships, not just org charts.

Amer’s tariff tantrum: Tariffs are looming, brands are panicking, and January might turn into a second BFCM. “Prices are going up” might just be the marketing moment you’ve been waiting for.

Bryan’s bold delusion: 🚨 Bryan dethroned Paul Rudd as Sexiest Man Alive. Are we witnessing confidence, chaos, or a midlife crisis? Stay tuned.

Grab your coffee—this one’s as unfiltered as it gets. 🌶️

How Mentors & Community Influence your Personal Growth & Success - EP26

In this episode we’re spilling ALL the tea on what keeps entrepreneurs from burning out and leveling up—personal growth, mentorship, and staying relevant in the fast lane. Whether you’re navigating the tricky mix of business + friendship, debating if you need a mentor or a ‘friendtor,’ or just wondering how the heck everyone else is keeping up, this episode is for you. Grab your headphones and check out the episode here.

Bryan - Delusional or Bursting With Self Confidence? 👀

Since Bryan conveniently missed the deadline for his unfiltered hot take, we’re taking matters into our own hands and serving it up for him… because if you don’t submit content, we’ll create it for you. 

Black January?

This January could be quite interesting when it comes to what certain brands will do…specifically the ones that depend on Mexico, Canada, and China for their goods.

President-elect Trump and his administration have vowed to increase tariffs from the aforementioned countries. 

In anticipation of this, what will or what can brands do?

Speaking to brands, pretty much all of them are making plans to increase their prices to offset costs, but they do fear what will happen with acquisition costs with increases of 25% on certain products.

Is there an opportunity to use this ‘event’ and leverage it as much as possible? Speaking to brands, the answer is – yes. 

Brands are planning to leverage this in their marketing and communication channels to alert consumers to take advantage of lower pricing while they can. With this, some are even planning to do sales events that mimic BFCM to drive additional sales.

Some have mentioned adding a discount or a promo, while others are just leaning on the “get this price while you can” approach.

Given the potential ripple tariffs will cause, brands need to figure out what is the best way to maximize January to their advantage. Creating a BFCM event, potentially without even discounting, just might be the way to go.

Fighting to Spend $700.

It’s ironic. 
In business I’ll approve a 6 figure spend without blinking an eye.

Yet… for some reason, spending $700.. For something that’s a bit of a luxury to me is hard.

But… then I’ll go blow $700 for dinner. 

Or even worse, in a single spin on a slot machine.

The human mind is interesting and psychology is one that we tap into for marketing. 

THe product in question was a 4k Sony Camera - I did buy it.. Only after I was given a 10% discount for BF/CM…

So I sat back and said why? 

Why did it take me such a hard time to make a purchase for something I need (I do podcasts and media stuff).

And I realized I was never marketed to.

Because Sony is a big brand, I found reviews that this particular camera is the best for vloggers and pretend pro’s like me.. 

I went to the product, looked at it, but all the PDP did was tell me all the features. Features, I have no idea what the hell they were talking about. 1.2billion mega pixel doo hickey 15:2 niner…. Yea.. no clue.

And I watched a few YouTube reviews… still just a lot about the product.

It wasn’t until I went on Facebook (gasp…yes.. Facebook) and joined a community.

This community were sharing pictures and sharing video.. And talking about the things you can do with it, how to make yourself look better for a vlog, cool settings for different experiences…

And that’s when I started to understand WHY I needed it. 

But i didn’t WANT it.

I was poorly marketed to.

The PDP from Sony was horrible.

The followup emails after I opted in.. poor.

The product page on random page I found through google sucked.

The Youtube reviews didn’t capture my attention.

But I still knew I needed it. I just didn’t want it enough.

Then I got a 10% coupon.

And boom, I bought mine and it’ll be here Tuesday. 

If you can’t market well,discount. 

If you can market, you don’t need to discount, just solve the pain, sell WITH the customer. 

Because somehow..$70 bucks got me to make a decision after 60 days. 

Silly. 

But that’s humans. 

Do you value your team?

It seems simple, and the answer should be a unanimous YES, but while reading posts and just talking to people in general I don’t think people are building the relationships with their teams that they need to.

You need a team to build anything of substance; you can’t do it all yourself… 

nor should you want to!

One of my favorite things when building something is the team.

After all, you are likely going to spend just as much time with these people than your family, so it’s kind of important.

When you build the right team, it’s so much bigger than just the business/company you are building.  These are your people. These are important relationships.

You likely will not be working and building the same business forever, there will be another one eventually.

Will you already have the dream team ready for the next venture?

You are doing it wrong if you can’t give a quick ‘YES’ to that question.

The team you are building is about the people and the relationship.

It is independent of the business you are working on together.

Remember that.

And that’s a wrap on this week’s unfiltered takes! If you’re hooked on our no-BS rants (or just love the chaos), be sure to hit that Subscribe button and let us keep your inbox spicy. 🌶️

And of course, don’t be selfish—share with your friends, coworkers, or anyone who needs a wake-up call from their boring newsletters.

Cheers to a successful BFCM. ✌️