May 20, 2025 • 26 mins
Trader Stu explores the challenges of post-layoff entrepreneurship and shares exciting news about being featured in an upcoming apocalyptic survival video game called "Get Prepped."
• Being featured as a trader character in "Get Prepped," an apocalyptic survival video game releasing this winter
• Average gamer today is in their 30s with disposable income - not just teenagers
• The Michigan Renaissance Festival sponsorship and themed weekend events
• Post-layoff entrepreneurship challenges and unrealistic expectations
• Most new business owners after layoffs rely on unemployment benefits for startup capital
• Without proper advertising and marketing budget, new businesses struggle to survive
• The three biggest challenges for post-layoff entrepreneurs: cash flow, marketing, and time management
• Approximately 45% of small busines
“Whistles In The West” was written, recorded, and produced by Durracell, exclusively for use with Trader Stu’s platform, always rocking the cowboy hat. The track is protected under U.S. Copyright rights to use have been granted specifically to Trader Stu for content and promotional use related to his brand and media presence.
contact:
📧 durracellmusic@gmail.com
🌐 www.durracell.com
The Michigan Renaissance Festival
Experience the Michigan Renaissance Festival, where history and fantasy collide!
The thoughts and views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and do not reflect the official policy or position of Metro Trading Association. Although the host is an employee of Metro Trading, this podcast is intended to educate entrepreneurs on the benefits of professional trading, regardless of their location. Additionally, the host reviews various pieces of camping gear due to the association of trade, barter, and prepping.
Metro Trading AssociationMTA helps businesses improve cash flow, reduce inventory, and increase profits through bartering.
The Michigan Renaissance Festival
Experience the Michigan Renaissance Festival, where history and fantasy collide!
Networking With Kids!
For busy professionals who want to network without sacrificing family time.
First Hill Marketing
Elevating brands with innovative digital marketing strategies and solutions.
Good Neighbor Podcast
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Rochester & Shelby, MI/Greater Detroit Area
Press X 2 Play Games
Survive the apocalypse in "Get Prepped" by Press X2 Play—play now at pressx2play.games!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Trading Post
.
I am Trader Stu and thisepisode is sponsored by the
Michigan Renaissance Festivaland Metro Trading Association.
And of course I don't know if Itold you guys this yet or not,
but I got to give a shout outbecause I'm going to be in a
video game with Press X to PlayGames X to play games Sarita is
(00:23):
making and her team actually ismaking a game called Get Prepped
and it's about an apocalypticvideo game to where you go
around and you gather items andget ready for whatever
apocalypse is about to happen,and it can be anything from I
(00:43):
don't know, like civil unrest, Ithink, a comet, a nuclear blast
, famine.
I guess there's gonna bedifferent things in there that
you're gonna be able to surviveand get through, and I am gonna
be in the video game as thetrader at the trading post.
So this is gonna be so cool.
It's funny.
I've always wanted to be in avideo game, like when I was a
(01:04):
kid.
I was like you know what wouldbe cool, you know when you make
it, you know how you know whenyou make it.
When you're in a video game,that's how you know and I always
just thought that would be socool and I guess I made it.
Maybe this is it, this is it, Imade it.
But we are trading kind of alittle bit for it.
Like, right, I'm going to giveher a shout out, advertise the
game.
And oh, by the way, if youdon't know, you can advertise in
(01:27):
her video game.
It's $20,000.
The average lifespan of a videogame these days is five years.
So if you do the math, it'sfive grand a year.
You know, five times four is 20.
And you will be featured eitheron a billboard or maybe your
(01:47):
building is a safe house for thevideo game and you gather there
and it's a, you know an area towhere your name's on it and all
the players within it um gatherand then so you're kind of
sponsoring the safe hold orwhatever, the safe zone.
So, very cool concept.
This is the way the future.
I mean, this is it, this iswhere everyone's hanging out.
Now, you know video games.
They're not your uh, you know,14 year old nephew or whatever,
(02:08):
playing a game in the basement.
The average is, uh, she said inher 30s is the average gamer,
uh, age right now, and uh, sothese are everything from you
know.
I mean, they're not just likethe, the stereotypical you know
dude in the basement of themom's house.
I these are doctors, dentists,lawyers.
These are the people who grewup playing these high-end video
(02:30):
games and now they're out therein the world with money.
This is how they blow off steamin the free time is to play
video games.
Check that out.
Also, I cannot wait for theMichigan Renaissance Festival to
give me some swag or not swagideas of what's coming up in the
(02:51):
weekends.
Each weekend's themed.
So you know it's always fun,it's something every weekend.
So one year it was likechocolate on a weekend and one
year it was bring your dog.
There's tons of dogs there.
It was so cool.
And then they dressed the dogsup too.
Like you know, there's dragonsand different One had a.
(03:14):
It was like a knight, like astuffed knight or whatever,
riding the dog and it was prettyexciting to show it off.
It was.
The dog had a ton of fun, youcould tell.
So definitely check out theMichigan Renaissance Festival
this summer and fall.
And my video game I say my videogame Get Prepped is supposed to
be released this winter orspring if things go to plan.
(03:36):
So, and then Metro TradingAssociation.
I work for.
You know it's my full-time job.
I work for.
You know it's my full-time joband that's what this ended up
being all about.
This podcast is starting tospiral into a looks like
something of an endeavor.
It was supposed to be just away to share a little bit of
(03:56):
ideas that I had about trade andbarter and business to business
and you know all sales andmarketing and the realm of B2B
and it's kind of taken off on meand it's fun, it's cool.
It'd be cool if I got a littlelike a side income, money from a
little extra second income.
That'd be neat, right?
I mean I am getting tickets,right.
Michigan Renaissance Festivalis sponsoring the show, so I'm
(04:20):
getting tickets from them togive away, and I've also been
invited to the media night.
So there's that as well.
One of the downfalls of doingthis episode at work is, uh, the
mail just came, so if you heardthe jingle, I'll try and edit
that out.
The door open and the postmancame in and did it's his thing,
(04:42):
so all right.
So a couple of things I wantedto mention.
I was talking to one of themembers in our group and we
happened to meet each other at adifferent event, and I don't
want to mention names, it's notimportant, but the topic of
conversation came up.
(05:02):
It was.
It seems like there's a lot ofpeople that are experiencing
some layoffs, and I know youmight depending on what you
watch media-wise for your newsyou may or may not have heard of
all the layoffs, and I was partof them.
I don't know if it was becauseof tariffs or whatever like that
(05:23):
.
This is all before that.
This is supposedly because ofweather and my job.
It needs to snow and ice and ifit doesn't, then business ain't
good, you know.
So I was let go along with Ithink it was 45 others in the
plant, and of course, you knowstuff like that that doesn't
make the news.
It was nowhere in the Detroitnews, it wasn't in the local
news news.
(05:47):
It wasn't in the local news.
I mentioned something about itwhen I had a YouTube channel and
that I got laid off and Istarted going crazy, like
actually crazy, I don't know.
People sit around all day andjust don't do anything.
This causes some, I think somemental illness.
Dude, you know they say thatthe devil's uh, our idle, idle
hands are the devil's playground.
It truly, it truly is.
(06:07):
I mean, I even had a new babyat the time to help out with my
wife and uh, it still wasn'tenough to keep me, you know,
going, and it was in the middleof winter.
I got laid off in January, soit wasn't exactly like I go
outside and, you know, go tinkeraround really, and uh, even if
I did, you know baby needed me.
So I don't know it was, um, itwas a tough one and uh, so I'm
(06:29):
back to work.
Obviously, over a year ago nowI think it's been a year now,
july oh my God, it's been onlybeen a year.
July has been a year since I'vebeen back.
So, anyway, we're talking aboutis getting laid off and people
starting these like I don't know, entrepreneurship.
He seems.
He said it seems like peopleare making up job titles.
He's like I swear to god, if Imeet another, uh, business
(06:50):
consultant or a business advisoror, uh, I don't know a social
media, um, you know, not aninfluencer, but like someone
that helps you with social mediaor an seo creator, you know
these make up these titles.
But you know, sometimes it'slike the SEO creator thing is, I
(07:11):
mean, that's, that's a dead.
I think it's a dead industry.
I'd snake oil anymore these days, from what I've been hearing,
because AI has been taking over.
And I'm not gonna be wrong.
I know AI looks for certainkeywords when, when you ask it a
but you know when I did I useperplexity.
When you enter it, it's just itscans everything within seconds
and it gives you a synopsis ofyou know what it gathered.
(07:33):
And I know some people say, ohwell, you know, it'll tell you
to eat a rock a day.
That was one of its healthadvisor things, because somebody
on Reddit made a joke andsuggested oh, you should eat a
rock a day.
So then AI doesn't sensesarcasm, you know what I'm
saying.
So people are like, oh, and I'mnot saying they actually took
their word for it and ate a rocka day.
(07:55):
It was just a joke, you know,but it took it seriously.
Anyway, you can figure it out.
You know that if you were to goout and do a Google search and
then gather your own data andspend an hour or half hour doing
that and read several articlesand several web pages, you can
tell that whatever AI just spitat you is a logical thing to
(08:18):
take.
So anyway, I digress on the SEOthing.
I didn't mean to do that, butit is a dead thing, I think.
And people are making up thesebusinesses and they have no
money.
So he's in marketing and he haslike a paper magazine or
whatever like that, right, likea print ad print stuff.
(08:40):
And it was just like man.
10 years ago I'd walk into abusiness and I'd say, hey, you
can put an ad in my book,whatever it is, and for about
the third of the price of amonth of being in the yellow
pages and and you get in therefor the whole year.
You know it's one ad print andit lasts 12 months, right, okay?
(09:04):
He said people write me checks,dude, like no, no, no problem,
and it was three times asexpensive as it is today.
Now it's 10 years ago and, uh,when?
Money?
You know the before inflation,everyone was making 17 bucks an
hour, right, so I don't know.
All he was getting at is likenobody has any money.
They're opening up thesebusinesses and I think that that
(09:25):
is putting a false sense outthere of how well the economy is
doing, because they keeptouting oh, you know this, many
small businesses registered lastyear to open and everyone
applauses like, oh yeah, that'sgreat.
You know, that doesn't meananything.
I don't know why that meansanything, because most of those
fail.
(09:45):
I don't know if mine did, Idon't know if it failed, I just
gave up on it.
So an LLC.
And then I opened it in.
You know, I think it wasJanuary of 2020.
20.
And then three months later weall got put on lockdown.
So there went that one and thenI just was trying to scramble
to get my money back on my dronethat I put into and the camera
(10:07):
equipment and anyway I got whatI felt enough of my money back
by doing gutter cleaning, whichwasn't the original LLC.
And then, after I got my moneyback, my shoulders I couldn't
take it.
I thought I was smart and gotthese carbon fiber poles and I
thought I was safe by standingon the ground and using a vacuum
system called SkyVac, and Ijust couldn't do it.
(10:28):
I couldn't lift my arms up overmy head, I already got bad
shoulders and I alreadyshouldn't be doing that work.
But I mean I was out.
I think it was like $3,500 orfive grand.
So I got something back.
So I did a few jobs and thenonce I couldn't stand or walk or
lift my arms up anymore and Ijust beat my rig down, I shut it
down, I liquid, we call it,liquidized it or anyway, shut
(10:49):
down the LLC.
And so, yeah, most of thosedon't LLCs don't mean anything
anyway.
And by certainly I know I did.
I did have money for ValPak.
I put money into ValPak, dude,and I got so much jobs, so much
work, that I had to turn workaway because they were putting
me in ValPaks up north and itwas like do I really want to
(11:13):
drive an hour to go make youknow what $200 or $300, whatever
it was you know to do a guttercleaning, and so I don't know, I
had to put money into it andyou've got to advertise, dude.
I just talked to a guy yesterday.
He does, he owns Viking.
I've got it right here VikingTrees, viking Tree and Stump,
(11:37):
cool dude.
I talked to him a little whileback to try and sign up for
Metro Trading Association and Icalled him back because I got
his flyer in my mailbox sayingthat he was in the area.
And you know, get a gooddiscount.
And you do get a good discountby if you get your trees trimmed
while they're like on the roadright, because they're already
there, they already made thetrip and you're just helping
them out by giving them extrawork for the day.
(11:57):
So they give you like a greatdeal.
And I got like five of my treestrimmed for like 700 bucks last
year.
I did it and, uh, the samething, a guy was door knocking
and he was like, hey, we're upthe road, you know, we could do
your trees here, for I think itwas 700 bucks or 750, whatever
it was and I was like done deal,dude, cause I was waiting for
that to happen again.
(12:17):
I had a guy do that to me ayear before and I just wasn't
ready for that.
Like I was like whoa, whoa,$700, that's a heck of a door
knock.
But then I got a quote for itwhen I was ready to get the
trees trimmed and it was like$2,500, you know.
So I was like, okay, I got thismoney earmarked for the next
time this happens, and sureenough, the next summer it
happened on my street.
Anyways, we're in a town full oftrees and these old, big, huge
(12:40):
old trees, so there's um, oftenthey die and you know, or
weather, and they get blown over.
So then you get tree trimmersin the area and and they, they
hook you up because it just itjust helps them out.
Anyway, he said the guy thatowns viking is like you know, I
am three weeks out, dude, Ican't do trade right now.
It's not for me, because I, youknow, and I already got to buy
(13:00):
another truck and trailer andanother chipper and, uh, you
know their crew, you know allthis stuff Right.
So he's like I got goodproblems to have.
And I said, yeah, dude, itsounds like it.
Uh, and he said I'll tell youthe secret is he got to
advertise.
Dude, you just got to put moneyin advertising.
It'll keep you busy, you know.
And of course you gotta get,you know, you gotta be a good
businessman and not, uh, notadvertise too much to where
(13:22):
you're not profitable anymore.
And obviously it sounds likehe's not, he's buying a truck
and trailer, but uh, or, he isprofitable.
I'm saying and, uh, you know,he'd over extend himself and
he's doing it right.
And that's the thing is thatyou got to advertise.
And I consider joining a tradegroup is a way of advertising
and marketing, because you'regoing to put your name out there
, you're in front of a bunch ofbusiness owners and you're going
(13:46):
to get word of mouth marketing,you're going to get cash
business from it as well.
So my entry and level of entryis super low compared to joining
a chamber or a B&I group or aValPAC ad or a newspaper ad.
Joining a chamber or a B&Igroup or a ValPAC ad or a
newspaper ad, and it's just.
If you join a trade groupyou're pretty much they don't
make money until you make money.
(14:07):
So find one in your area and dothat if you can, because that's
the greatest way to go, I think, to get going.
I know I did it with my guttercleaning business, so you know.
(14:31):
With getting laid off, I guesswhat I'm trying to say is that
or if you are laid off, havesome money earmarked, if you
have it, if you can, to get anyadvertising money you know from
them.
Because and even like thebigger businesses, I've noticed
too he said he goes man you know, say an ad is like 1200 bucks
they're easy numbers, I don'tknow and he's like yeah, they're
like, can I do it in a hundredbucks a month or can I do it,
(14:53):
like you know, three times orfour times times three?
Can I do it in a few hundredbucks a time for over each
quarter, and he's like dude, youdon't have $1,200 for
advertising, you know.
And before he said, people justwrite checks.
I hardly finished my sentenceand they already wrote me a
check.
I was on my way.
So business is tough right nowout there for everybody.
I guess is from what I'mnoticing, not just if you're
(15:17):
importing things, don't let thatfool you Like, just if you're
importing things, don't let thatfool you.
Like, oh yeah, tariffs ortariffs, this, um.
But I will say this I had myroof quoted, uh, to get new
soffits and and fascia and uhand gables installed.
Last year it was five grand,this year it was almost nine
grand, almost 10 grand, um, butminus, uh, the shed, so that was
(15:38):
a thousand bucks and then minusthe siding, so it was 7,500
bucks compared to five grandlast year.
So it went up, was that 150percent?
And he was right.
He said I gotta tell you,aluminum was like 100 bucks per
whatever, and now it's 150, youknow, per.
I don't know if it's per footor whatever it is, but uh.
And so yeah, it was.
He was right on Like it went up150 percent.
(16:00):
So there's that aspect of itfor, like, the roofing companies
and you get these textiles andI get that.
I do get that.
So let's see.
I want to go over a couple morethings.
I'm just kind of reading somebullet points I wanted to
mention as well.
So did you know that many ofthe people who get laid off
(16:24):
start a business within three tosix months?
Um, they don't do it, like Isaid, with no capital or an
investment plan.
So that's where the you knowlong-term success kind of falls
away three to six months after alayoff.
That's because they find outthat they're on, indeed, and
monster, and they're like Idon't understand.
I put out a hundred applicationsand I got no callbacks and I
(16:45):
was part of that crew, dude.
My resume is is pretty on point, dude.
I mean, I top secret clearanceand expired by now, but I had
one.
I could easily get one again.
Uh, I can fix anything.
I'm certified in refrigerantand hydraulics and pneumatics,
diesel engines, turbine engines.
(17:08):
I was a flight engineer, amechanic, in the Air Force.
I was in the hydraulics andsnowplow world, for God, eight
and a half years, I think it was, yeah, eight and a half years,
and nobody would call me back,dude.
I'd get interviews, a couplehere and there, but nobody.
Usually before I would just gethired on the spot Like perfect,
we love it.
You're in, when can you start?
(17:29):
Can you put a two-week noticein?
Or one week?
What's going on Now?
They're like, okay, great, well, we'll think about it and we'll
call you back and you knowwhatever.
Yeah, never happened, dude.
And I know people that have goodresumes and good you know work
ethic and been at a job for along time.
They're laid off and they can'tfind a job.
(17:51):
It's a tough racket out there.
I see it all the time, even onFacebook and next door app.
People are like man, I don'tknow what to do.
Like, you know, I got laid offor fired or you know whatever.
They shut the building down,the business went out of
business and I got a whatever.
My unemployment ran out, I gota severance package and it's all
gone and nobody will hire me.
And uh, I'm not saying like youknow, like, well, go work at
(18:14):
McDonald's.
They're always hiring atHacklebell, but yeah, but I
don't know that.
I, I get that and I don't getthat.
So if it comes, push, come toshove.
Of course, yeah, but you knowit's not like you're getting 40
hours a week at these fast foodjoints, yeah, they're paying 17
bucks an hour, but at 12 hours aweek or six hours a week, you
know what I mean.
It's not like you're getting 40and making a few hundred
(18:35):
dollars a week or 500 bucks aweek.
It's not, it's still not evenenough.
So 500 bucks a week, it's not,it's still not even enough.
So, but yeah, uh, what else wegot here?
Oh, yeah.
So this says that most postlayoff entrepreneurs are heavily
reliant on family friends.
Uh, and unemployment benefitsfor startup capital, uh.
(18:56):
There's no formal investment orsavings, yeah, which limits
their ability to scale orsustain operations.
It's even tough for them to getcomputers.
I was surprised by how manypeople can't afford a laptop to
get a business rolling man.
It's crazy.
So then, when you're underinvesting and you don't have
enough funding, you strugglewith the cash flow.
(19:16):
Of course, I don't know howthey even pay rent.
You know you got no marketing.
Like I said, the timemanagement, and so those are the
top three challenges.
Is what this is saying Cashflow, marketing and time
management.
And it's cited by post-layofffounders.
So it says, of course, you knowthese are stalled growth early
(19:37):
and failure early failure.
So yeah, of course it does, man, oh yeah.
So another bullet point here soit was a common barrier for
startups is an unclear orunconvincing business vision and
lack or demonstrated impact ofearly customer traction, which
are critical for attractinginvestors and customers.
(19:57):
See, I don't know about theinvestor thing.
Investing in a small business,I think that's I don't know how
people do it.
Man, you got to have so muchcash flow and so much I don't
know revenue.
How do you invest in a smallbusiness when you know that?
What is it like?
45% fail within the first fewyears.
It's tough, dude, especiallyright now with everyone trying
(20:18):
to get it rolling off ofunemployment benefits, and
that's what they're doing.
They're using unemployment toroll their business.
You know that's tough.
It's a tough gig, dude, and I'mnot saying I tried it too.
I'm not being hypocritical here.
I lived it, man, I've beenthrough it.
It's not like I'm like oh,these guys are all fools.
No, I was the fool, I was in it.
(20:39):
I did it too.
And guess what?
I failed.
Because there's no way that youcan keep it rolling, dude,
without that.
The guy I was talking to saidI've got $100,000 in my business
when I got it rolling.
You've got to have some kind ofcapital and get it, get it
going.
But there's no real commitmentanymore and it's a gig work.
That's what.
(21:00):
You know what it is.
I think that's what it is.
People are treating the newbusinesses as maybe a gig work,
like, oh, I'll kind of do thison the side, I'll get a tax
write-off.
Oh yeah, and, by the way, allthese awesome tax write-offs
that used to be happening sinceCOVID, those are gone.
I think it's really hardanymore these days to write off
a part of your you can do like asquare footage of your living
room and like the path to yourbathroom, and I think you're
(21:23):
part of your bathroom, and thenyou know a part of your utility
bills and all that stuff for taxdeductions.
I'm pretty sure and I might bewrong, but I don't care, I'll
say it anyways I don't think youcan do that no more, because I
think I've asked before and Isaid, yeah, you can't.
I mean, I think I asked my taxperson.
They're like yeah, dude, it'sreally hard to prove that
(21:44):
anymore because everybody'sworking from home right now.
You know, or were anywayworking from home.
You know, during COVID orpost-COVID, I was working from
home with my old job, you knowfrom, of course, 2020, all the
way through it, 24, when I gotlaid off and at that point I
think we were doing two or threedays a week allowed to be
working at home.
It was kind of like whateveryou wanted to do and I had a
(22:07):
cool gig at home.
I had an awesome setup.
My other two buddies didn'thave as nice a setup.
They were at the kitchen tableor in the basement and I had
like my own office.
I had a desk and I had my threemonitors and I had I had all
the setup and I didn't reallyhave any kids running around.
Yet.
You know, my stepson was aroundevery two weeks, but in the
winter and fall and spring he'sgone.
(22:28):
He's at school all day, right,so it was perfect.
By the time he went to school Ilogged in and half hour after
he got home I logged out.
So there was no realdistraction.
It was nice.
But now, oh God, I can't imagineworking from home right now
with my kid right now runningaround.
He's only two.
He's two next month.
That'd be tough, dude, and he'd, and the problem is he'd know
(22:50):
I'd be in that room with thedoor closed.
I mean, it would be brutal.
I don't know if people do it orwhy they want to keep doing it.
You know, working from home,because I don't know about most
kids, but this kid that I have,he is determined.
If he knows you're in there, hewill break that door down, dude
.
So anyway, that's it for now.
(23:17):
I just wanted to go over a fewthings and my post, my opinion
on you know, the uh, theentrepreneur of today.
It seems like uh, or I guess Ishould say the post layoff
entrepreneur, and not todiscourage anybody, it can be
done.
And you know there's storiesout there and you hear about the
one or five percenters thatthat rocket make it happen.
But just know, going into it,you got to have a unique game
because when I go to thesenetworking events there everyone
(23:39):
is kind of like doing the topsame, like 10 things, maybe five
things that they're all doing,it's all with.
You know, maybe ai or socialmedia or I don't know.
I don't really understand thebusiness coach thing, like
unless you're, I don't know,like a bill gates or something
like that, like a really like,unless you're, I don't know,
like a Bill Gates or somethinglike that, like a really
successful, like you're makingmillions and you sold a few
(24:01):
businesses, and then I'll takeyour advice.
But if you're you know abusiness, and then I don't
understand why I would take theadvice.
I don't know.
Any rate, that's it for now.
Whatever you do out there, begood or be good at it.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Trading Post
.
I am Trader Stu and thisepisode is sponsored by the
Michigan Renaissance Festivaland Metro Trading Association.
And of course I don't know if Itold you guys this yet or not,
but I got to give a shout outbecause I'm going to be in a
video game with Press X to PlayGames X to play games Sarita is
(00:23):
making and her team actually ismaking a game called Get Prepped
and it's about an apocalypticvideo game to where you go
around and you gather items andget ready for whatever
apocalypse is about to happen,and it can be anything from I
(00:43):
don't know, like civil unrest, Ithink, a comet, a nuclear blast
, famine.
I guess there's gonna bedifferent things in there that
you're gonna be able to surviveand get through, and I am gonna
be in the video game as thetrader at the trading post.
So this is gonna be so cool.
It's funny.
I've always wanted to be in avideo game, like when I was a
(01:04):
kid.
I was like you know what wouldbe cool, you know when you make
it, you know how you know whenyou make it.
When you're in a video game,that's how you know and I always
just thought that would be socool and I guess I made it.
Maybe this is it, this is it, Imade it.
But we are trading kind of alittle bit for it.
Like, right, I'm going to giveher a shout out, advertise the
game.
And oh, by the way, if youdon't know, you can advertise in
(01:27):
her video game.
It's $20,000.
The average lifespan of a videogame these days is five years.
So if you do the math, it'sfive grand a year.
You know, five times four is 20.
And you will be featured eitheron a billboard or maybe your
(01:47):
building is a safe house for thevideo game and you gather there
and it's a, you know an area towhere your name's on it and all
the players within it um gatherand then so you're kind of
sponsoring the safe hold orwhatever, the safe zone.
So, very cool concept.
This is the way the future.
I mean, this is it, this iswhere everyone's hanging out.
Now, you know video games.
They're not your uh, you know,14 year old nephew or whatever,
(02:08):
playing a game in the basement.
The average is, uh, she said inher 30s is the average gamer,
uh, age right now, and uh, sothese are everything from you
know.
I mean, they're not just likethe, the stereotypical you know
dude in the basement of themom's house.
I these are doctors, dentists,lawyers.
These are the people who grewup playing these high-end video
(02:30):
games and now they're out therein the world with money.
This is how they blow off steamin the free time is to play
video games.
Check that out.
Also, I cannot wait for theMichigan Renaissance Festival to
give me some swag or not swagideas of what's coming up in the
(02:51):
weekends.
Each weekend's themed.
So you know it's always fun,it's something every weekend.
So one year it was likechocolate on a weekend and one
year it was bring your dog.
There's tons of dogs there.
It was so cool.
And then they dressed the dogsup too.
Like you know, there's dragonsand different One had a.
(03:14):
It was like a knight, like astuffed knight or whatever,
riding the dog and it was prettyexciting to show it off.
It was.
The dog had a ton of fun, youcould tell.
So definitely check out theMichigan Renaissance Festival
this summer and fall.
And my video game I say my videogame Get Prepped is supposed to
be released this winter orspring if things go to plan.
(03:36):
So, and then Metro TradingAssociation.
I work for.
You know it's my full-time job.
I work for.
You know it's my full-time joband that's what this ended up
being all about.
This podcast is starting tospiral into a looks like
something of an endeavor.
It was supposed to be just away to share a little bit of
(03:56):
ideas that I had about trade andbarter and business to business
and you know all sales andmarketing and the realm of B2B
and it's kind of taken off on meand it's fun, it's cool.
It'd be cool if I got a littlelike a side income, money from a
little extra second income.
That'd be neat, right?
I mean I am getting tickets,right.
Michigan Renaissance Festivalis sponsoring the show, so I'm
(04:20):
getting tickets from them togive away, and I've also been
invited to the media night.
So there's that as well.
One of the downfalls of doingthis episode at work is, uh, the
mail just came, so if you heardthe jingle, I'll try and edit
that out.
The door open and the postmancame in and did it's his thing,
(04:42):
so all right.
So a couple of things I wantedto mention.
I was talking to one of themembers in our group and we
happened to meet each other at adifferent event, and I don't
want to mention names, it's notimportant, but the topic of
conversation came up.
(05:02):
It was.
It seems like there's a lot ofpeople that are experiencing
some layoffs, and I know youmight depending on what you
watch media-wise for your newsyou may or may not have heard of
all the layoffs, and I was partof them.
I don't know if it was becauseof tariffs or whatever like that
(05:23):
.
This is all before that.
This is supposedly because ofweather and my job.
It needs to snow and ice and ifit doesn't, then business ain't
good, you know.
So I was let go along with Ithink it was 45 others in the
plant, and of course, you knowstuff like that that doesn't
make the news.
It was nowhere in the Detroitnews, it wasn't in the local
news news.
(05:47):
It wasn't in the local news.
I mentioned something about itwhen I had a YouTube channel and
that I got laid off and Istarted going crazy, like
actually crazy, I don't know.
People sit around all day andjust don't do anything.
This causes some, I think somemental illness.
Dude, you know they say thatthe devil's uh, our idle, idle
hands are the devil's playground.
It truly, it truly is.
(06:07):
I mean, I even had a new babyat the time to help out with my
wife and uh, it still wasn'tenough to keep me, you know,
going, and it was in the middleof winter.
I got laid off in January, soit wasn't exactly like I go
outside and, you know, go tinkeraround really, and uh, even if
I did, you know baby needed me.
So I don't know it was, um, itwas a tough one and uh, so I'm
(06:29):
back to work.
Obviously, over a year ago nowI think it's been a year now,
july oh my God, it's been onlybeen a year.
July has been a year since I'vebeen back.
So, anyway, we're talking aboutis getting laid off and people
starting these like I don't know, entrepreneurship.
He seems.
He said it seems like peopleare making up job titles.
He's like I swear to god, if Imeet another, uh, business
(06:50):
consultant or a business advisoror, uh, I don't know a social
media, um, you know, not aninfluencer, but like someone
that helps you with social mediaor an seo creator, you know
these make up these titles.
But you know, sometimes it'slike the SEO creator thing is, I
(07:11):
mean, that's, that's a dead.
I think it's a dead industry.
I'd snake oil anymore these days, from what I've been hearing,
because AI has been taking over.
And I'm not gonna be wrong.
I know AI looks for certainkeywords when, when you ask it a
but you know when I did I useperplexity.
When you enter it, it's just itscans everything within seconds
and it gives you a synopsis ofyou know what it gathered.
(07:33):
And I know some people say, ohwell, you know, it'll tell you
to eat a rock a day.
That was one of its healthadvisor things, because somebody
on Reddit made a joke andsuggested oh, you should eat a
rock a day.
So then AI doesn't sensesarcasm, you know what I'm
saying.
So people are like, oh, and I'mnot saying they actually took
their word for it and ate a rocka day.
(07:55):
It was just a joke, you know,but it took it seriously.
Anyway, you can figure it out.
You know that if you were to goout and do a Google search and
then gather your own data andspend an hour or half hour doing
that and read several articlesand several web pages, you can
tell that whatever AI just spitat you is a logical thing to
(08:18):
take.
So anyway, I digress on the SEOthing.
I didn't mean to do that, butit is a dead thing, I think.
And people are making up thesebusinesses and they have no
money.
So he's in marketing and he haslike a paper magazine or
whatever like that, right, likea print ad print stuff.
(08:40):
And it was just like man.
10 years ago I'd walk into abusiness and I'd say, hey, you
can put an ad in my book,whatever it is, and for about
the third of the price of amonth of being in the yellow
pages and and you get in therefor the whole year.
You know it's one ad print andit lasts 12 months, right, okay?
(09:04):
He said people write me checks,dude, like no, no, no problem,
and it was three times asexpensive as it is today.
Now it's 10 years ago and, uh,when?
Money?
You know the before inflation,everyone was making 17 bucks an
hour, right, so I don't know.
All he was getting at is likenobody has any money.
They're opening up thesebusinesses and I think that that
(09:25):
is putting a false sense outthere of how well the economy is
doing, because they keeptouting oh, you know this, many
small businesses registered lastyear to open and everyone
applauses like, oh yeah, that'sgreat.
You know, that doesn't meananything.
I don't know why that meansanything, because most of those
fail.
(09:45):
I don't know if mine did, Idon't know if it failed, I just
gave up on it.
So an LLC.
And then I opened it in.
You know, I think it wasJanuary of 2020.
20.
And then three months later weall got put on lockdown.
So there went that one and thenI just was trying to scramble
to get my money back on my dronethat I put into and the camera
(10:07):
equipment and anyway I got whatI felt enough of my money back
by doing gutter cleaning, whichwasn't the original LLC.
And then, after I got my moneyback, my shoulders I couldn't
take it.
I thought I was smart and gotthese carbon fiber poles and I
thought I was safe by standingon the ground and using a vacuum
system called SkyVac, and Ijust couldn't do it.
(10:28):
I couldn't lift my arms up overmy head, I already got bad
shoulders and I alreadyshouldn't be doing that work.
But I mean I was out.
I think it was like $3,500 orfive grand.
So I got something back.
So I did a few jobs and thenonce I couldn't stand or walk or
lift my arms up anymore and Ijust beat my rig down, I shut it
down, I liquid, we call it,liquidized it or anyway, shut
(10:49):
down the LLC.
And so, yeah, most of thosedon't LLCs don't mean anything
anyway.
And by certainly I know I did.
I did have money for ValPak.
I put money into ValPak, dude,and I got so much jobs, so much
work, that I had to turn workaway because they were putting
me in ValPaks up north and itwas like do I really want to
(11:13):
drive an hour to go make youknow what $200 or $300, whatever
it was you know to do a guttercleaning, and so I don't know, I
had to put money into it andyou've got to advertise, dude.
I just talked to a guy yesterday.
He does, he owns Viking.
I've got it right here VikingTrees, viking Tree and Stump,
(11:37):
cool dude.
I talked to him a little whileback to try and sign up for
Metro Trading Association and Icalled him back because I got
his flyer in my mailbox sayingthat he was in the area.
And you know, get a gooddiscount.
And you do get a good discountby if you get your trees trimmed
while they're like on the roadright, because they're already
there, they already made thetrip and you're just helping
them out by giving them extrawork for the day.
(11:57):
So they give you like a greatdeal.
And I got like five of my treestrimmed for like 700 bucks last
year.
I did it and, uh, the samething, a guy was door knocking
and he was like, hey, we're upthe road, you know, we could do
your trees here, for I think itwas 700 bucks or 750, whatever
it was and I was like done deal,dude, cause I was waiting for
that to happen again.
(12:17):
I had a guy do that to me ayear before and I just wasn't
ready for that.
Like I was like whoa, whoa,$700, that's a heck of a door
knock.
But then I got a quote for itwhen I was ready to get the
trees trimmed and it was like$2,500, you know.
So I was like, okay, I got thismoney earmarked for the next
time this happens, and sureenough, the next summer it
happened on my street.
Anyways, we're in a town full oftrees and these old, big, huge
(12:40):
old trees, so there's um, oftenthey die and you know, or
weather, and they get blown over.
So then you get tree trimmersin the area and and they, they
hook you up because it just itjust helps them out.
Anyway, he said the guy thatowns viking is like you know, I
am three weeks out, dude, Ican't do trade right now.
It's not for me, because I, youknow, and I already got to buy
(13:00):
another truck and trailer andanother chipper and, uh, you
know their crew, you know allthis stuff Right.
So he's like I got goodproblems to have.
And I said, yeah, dude, itsounds like it.
Uh, and he said I'll tell youthe secret is he got to
advertise.
Dude, you just got to put moneyin advertising.
It'll keep you busy, you know.
And of course you gotta get,you know, you gotta be a good
businessman and not, uh, notadvertise too much to where
(13:22):
you're not profitable anymore.
And obviously it sounds likehe's not, he's buying a truck
and trailer, but uh, or, he isprofitable.
I'm saying and, uh, you know,he'd over extend himself and
he's doing it right.
And that's the thing is thatyou got to advertise.
And I consider joining a tradegroup is a way of advertising
and marketing, because you'regoing to put your name out there
, you're in front of a bunch ofbusiness owners and you're going
(13:46):
to get word of mouth marketing,you're going to get cash
business from it as well.
So my entry and level of entryis super low compared to joining
a chamber or a B&I group or aValPAC ad or a newspaper ad.
Joining a chamber or a B&Igroup or a ValPAC ad or a
newspaper ad, and it's just.
If you join a trade groupyou're pretty much they don't
make money until you make money.
(14:07):
So find one in your area and dothat if you can, because that's
the greatest way to go, I think, to get going.
I know I did it with my guttercleaning business, so you know.
(14:31):
With getting laid off, I guesswhat I'm trying to say is that
or if you are laid off, havesome money earmarked, if you
have it, if you can, to get anyadvertising money you know from
them.
Because and even like thebigger businesses, I've noticed
too he said he goes man you know, say an ad is like 1200 bucks
they're easy numbers, I don'tknow and he's like yeah, they're
like, can I do it in a hundredbucks a month or can I do it,
(14:53):
like you know, three times orfour times times three?
Can I do it in a few hundredbucks a time for over each
quarter, and he's like dude, youdon't have $1,200 for
advertising, you know.
And before he said, people justwrite checks.
I hardly finished my sentenceand they already wrote me a
check.
I was on my way.
So business is tough right nowout there for everybody.
I guess is from what I'mnoticing, not just if you're
(15:17):
importing things, don't let thatfool you Like, just if you're
importing things, don't let thatfool you.
Like, oh yeah, tariffs ortariffs, this, um.
But I will say this I had myroof quoted, uh, to get new
soffits and and fascia and uhand gables installed.
Last year it was five grand,this year it was almost nine
grand, almost 10 grand, um, butminus, uh, the shed, so that was
(15:38):
a thousand bucks and then minusthe siding, so it was 7,500
bucks compared to five grandlast year.
So it went up, was that 150percent?
And he was right.
He said I gotta tell you,aluminum was like 100 bucks per
whatever, and now it's 150, youknow, per.
I don't know if it's per footor whatever it is, but uh.
And so yeah, it was.
He was right on Like it went up150 percent.
(16:00):
So there's that aspect of itfor, like, the roofing companies
and you get these textiles andI get that.
I do get that.
So let's see.
I want to go over a couple morethings.
I'm just kind of reading somebullet points I wanted to
mention as well.
So did you know that many ofthe people who get laid off
(16:24):
start a business within three tosix months?
Um, they don't do it, like Isaid, with no capital or an
investment plan.
So that's where the you knowlong-term success kind of falls
away three to six months after alayoff.
That's because they find outthat they're on, indeed, and
monster, and they're like Idon't understand.
I put out a hundred applicationsand I got no callbacks and I
(16:45):
was part of that crew, dude.
My resume is is pretty on point, dude.
I mean, I top secret clearanceand expired by now, but I had
one.
I could easily get one again.
Uh, I can fix anything.
I'm certified in refrigerantand hydraulics and pneumatics,
diesel engines, turbine engines.
(17:08):
I was a flight engineer, amechanic, in the Air Force.
I was in the hydraulics andsnowplow world, for God, eight
and a half years, I think it was, yeah, eight and a half years,
and nobody would call me back,dude.
I'd get interviews, a couplehere and there, but nobody.
Usually before I would just gethired on the spot Like perfect,
we love it.
You're in, when can you start?
(17:29):
Can you put a two-week noticein?
Or one week?
What's going on Now?
They're like, okay, great, well, we'll think about it and we'll
call you back and you knowwhatever.
Yeah, never happened, dude.
And I know people that have goodresumes and good you know work
ethic and been at a job for along time.
They're laid off and they can'tfind a job.
(17:51):
It's a tough racket out there.
I see it all the time, even onFacebook and next door app.
People are like man, I don'tknow what to do.
Like, you know, I got laid offor fired or you know whatever.
They shut the building down,the business went out of
business and I got a whatever.
My unemployment ran out, I gota severance package and it's all
gone and nobody will hire me.
And uh, I'm not saying like youknow, like, well, go work at
(18:14):
McDonald's.
They're always hiring atHacklebell, but yeah, but I
don't know that.
I, I get that and I don't getthat.
So if it comes, push, come toshove.
Of course, yeah, but you knowit's not like you're getting 40
hours a week at these fast foodjoints, yeah, they're paying 17
bucks an hour, but at 12 hours aweek or six hours a week, you
know what I mean.
It's not like you're getting 40and making a few hundred
(18:35):
dollars a week or 500 bucks aweek.
It's not, it's still not evenenough.
So 500 bucks a week, it's not,it's still not even enough.
So, but yeah, uh, what else wegot here?
Oh, yeah.
So this says that most postlayoff entrepreneurs are heavily
reliant on family friends.
Uh, and unemployment benefitsfor startup capital, uh.
(18:56):
There's no formal investment orsavings, yeah, which limits
their ability to scale orsustain operations.
It's even tough for them to getcomputers.
I was surprised by how manypeople can't afford a laptop to
get a business rolling man.
It's crazy.
So then, when you're underinvesting and you don't have
enough funding, you strugglewith the cash flow.
(19:16):
Of course, I don't know howthey even pay rent.
You know you got no marketing.
Like I said, the timemanagement, and so those are the
top three challenges.
Is what this is saying Cashflow, marketing and time
management.
And it's cited by post-layofffounders.
So it says, of course, you knowthese are stalled growth early
(19:37):
and failure early failure.
So yeah, of course it does, man, oh yeah.
So another bullet point here soit was a common barrier for
startups is an unclear orunconvincing business vision and
lack or demonstrated impact ofearly customer traction, which
are critical for attractinginvestors and customers.
(19:57):
See, I don't know about theinvestor thing.
Investing in a small business,I think that's I don't know how
people do it.
Man, you got to have so muchcash flow and so much I don't
know revenue.
How do you invest in a smallbusiness when you know that?
What is it like?
45% fail within the first fewyears.
It's tough, dude, especiallyright now with everyone trying
(20:18):
to get it rolling off ofunemployment benefits, and
that's what they're doing.
They're using unemployment toroll their business.
You know that's tough.
It's a tough gig, dude, and I'mnot saying I tried it too.
I'm not being hypocritical here.
I lived it, man, I've beenthrough it.
It's not like I'm like oh,these guys are all fools.
No, I was the fool, I was in it.
(20:39):
I did it too.
And guess what?
I failed.
Because there's no way that youcan keep it rolling, dude,
without that.
The guy I was talking to saidI've got $100,000 in my business
when I got it rolling.
You've got to have some kind ofcapital and get it, get it
going.
But there's no real commitmentanymore and it's a gig work.
That's what.
(21:00):
You know what it is.
I think that's what it is.
People are treating the newbusinesses as maybe a gig work,
like, oh, I'll kind of do thison the side, I'll get a tax
write-off.
Oh yeah, and, by the way, allthese awesome tax write-offs
that used to be happening sinceCOVID, those are gone.
I think it's really hardanymore these days to write off
a part of your you can do like asquare footage of your living
room and like the path to yourbathroom, and I think you're
(21:23):
part of your bathroom, and thenyou know a part of your utility
bills and all that stuff for taxdeductions.
I'm pretty sure and I might bewrong, but I don't care, I'll
say it anyways I don't think youcan do that no more, because I
think I've asked before and Isaid, yeah, you can't.
I mean, I think I asked my taxperson.
They're like yeah, dude, it'sreally hard to prove that
(21:44):
anymore because everybody'sworking from home right now.
You know, or were anywayworking from home.
You know, during COVID orpost-COVID, I was working from
home with my old job, you knowfrom, of course, 2020, all the
way through it, 24, when I gotlaid off and at that point I
think we were doing two or threedays a week allowed to be
working at home.
It was kind of like whateveryou wanted to do and I had a
(22:07):
cool gig at home.
I had an awesome setup.
My other two buddies didn'thave as nice a setup.
They were at the kitchen tableor in the basement and I had
like my own office.
I had a desk and I had my threemonitors and I had I had all
the setup and I didn't reallyhave any kids running around.
Yet.
You know, my stepson was aroundevery two weeks, but in the
winter and fall and spring he'sgone.
(22:28):
He's at school all day, right,so it was perfect.
By the time he went to school Ilogged in and half hour after
he got home I logged out.
So there was no realdistraction.
It was nice.
But now, oh God, I can't imagineworking from home right now
with my kid right now runningaround.
He's only two.
He's two next month.
That'd be tough, dude, and he'd, and the problem is he'd know
(22:50):
I'd be in that room with thedoor closed.
I mean, it would be brutal.
I don't know if people do it orwhy they want to keep doing it.
You know, working from home,because I don't know about most
kids, but this kid that I have,he is determined.
If he knows you're in there, hewill break that door down, dude
.
So anyway, that's it for now.
(23:17):
I just wanted to go over a fewthings and my post, my opinion
on you know, the uh, theentrepreneur of today.
It seems like uh, or I guess Ishould say the post layoff
entrepreneur, and not todiscourage anybody, it can be
done.
And you know there's storiesout there and you hear about the
one or five percenters thatthat rocket make it happen.
But just know, going into it,you got to have a unique game
because when I go to thesenetworking events there everyone
(23:39):
is kind of like doing the topsame, like 10 things, maybe five
things that they're all doing,it's all with.
You know, maybe ai or socialmedia or I don't know.
I don't really understand thebusiness coach thing, like
unless you're, I don't know,like a bill gates or something
like that, like a really like,unless you're, I don't know,
like a Bill Gates or somethinglike that, like a really
successful, like you're makingmillions and you sold a few
(24:01):
businesses, and then I'll takeyour advice.
But if you're you know abusiness, and then I don't
understand why I would take theadvice.
I don't know.
Any rate, that's it for now.
Whatever you do out there, begood or be good at it.
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History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.