YouTube Channel: @RyanDanielMoran

Ryan Daniel Moran discusses the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and whether capitalism is to blame, then covers Amazon's Art19 acquisition, a 130-country minimum corporate tax agreement, college athlete monetization, and entrepreneur exits including SmartSweets and Caulipower.
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This week in Capitalism, the ocean catches on fire, Amazon gets into podcasting and tax codes change once again. Plus we'll talk with the next female founded hundred million dollar brand. This and a lot more happened this week. In capitalism, the oceans caught on fire due to an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And this is keeping me up at night because it's reminding me of scary images from the Book of Revelation. It's also received commentary from politicians and Greta Thunberg and a lot of people who are pointing the blame Capitalism. This is unpopular to say for someone who loves capitalism, but capitalism is partly to blame for this. Our use of fossil fuels is one of the greatest things that mankind has ever done. It has increased our lifespans, it has vastly increased our economic output. And there's collateral damage in this as evidenced by the events of this week. However, the temptation to just point the finger and blame people or blame the city system is a waste of energy. It's much more productive and much more financially rewarding to put our focus and our energy on the solutions rather than pointing our fingers at the problems. Those who waste their energy just talking about why capitalism is the source of all of our problems don't create change in the world. We create change in the world by coming up with new innovations and new solutions. Capitalism is partly to blame for this, because anytime an entrepreneur brings forward a new solution, it also opens up a higher level of challenges. Fossil fuels are one of the greatest innovations we've ever come up with, but it also has its own set of challenges, just like every innovation in history. So yes, fossil fuels have their own limitations and that creates a huge economic opportunity for us as entrepreneurs to put our focus on the solution rather than the problem. Amazon.com is getting into podcasting. They recently acquired Art 19, which is a podcast hosting and monetization platform. This is particularly interesting when you factor in the use of Alexa and the Amazon Echo. You can imagine a day not too far in the future where Amazon has its own native podcasts and you just say, hey Alexa, play me a business podcast. And of course I start talking in your ear. Since Amazon has that distribution, I can see them competing with Spotify to acquire podcasts. Spotify has already acquired Joe Rogan and the Armchair Expert podcast. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Amazon starts buying podcasts too. What this means is that the opportunities for you to become a creator and to have a full time business just having a podcast or a YouTube channel or putting out content continue to expand now that really big companies are Getting into this space. Speaking of monetizing content, this could be a big opportunity for all of the college athletes who are now able to use their likeness in order to make a living. I personally have mixed feelings about this. Overall, this is a really good thing. No one should be limited on what they can earn and what they create and what they produce. At the same time, I'm very curious to see how this impacts the mindset of the athletes who are currently in high demand. It is very alluring when you start getting those checks and those interested parties who will pay you to sponsor things or talk about things. And when you come from a background where you don't have much, it can be tough to ignore the short term cash in favor of playing a long term game like keeping your eye on your sport. So I'm interested to see how the mindset of athletes change during this time because as someone who works closely with entrepreneurs, I know that there are plenty of people who never are able to pivot out of the short term win in order to create something bigger. Long term though, I think this will force young people to have a longer term mindset, which is a really good thing. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that a group of 130 countries have come together to create a flat corporate international tax. What that basically means is that regardless of where a company is doing business, they'll be taxed at a minimum rate. This is stupid. This is stupid because it basically gives a higher incentive for the countries who are not involved in this deal to give more tax breaks to companies who will come and do business there. Whenever the government expands their control, especially when it comes to money, it simply makes entrepreneurs like us more creative. The way that this was sold in the news was that this would generate billions of dollars in tax revenue. No, it does not generate anything. All that taxes do is hurt the incentives and hurt the productivity of people who actually create change. You and me, not the government. So all this will do is increase the likelihood that people will find new loopholes and new ways to shelter money as entrepreneurs should. Because every dollar kept in the hands of individuals and creators rather than the hands of government is a money better spent than a politician would ever do. This week at capitalism.com, we spoke with a young female founder who started a new food brand called Lil Bucks. It's a healthy snacking company and this is another example of a female founded food brand that has the potential to hit nine figures. This has become kind of a recurring theme in the E commerce and the food space of female founders going into the food space and having ginormous success. Two recent examples are Tara Bosch, the founder of SmartSuites, which sold for $360 million after existing for less than four years, and Gail Becker, the founder of Cauliflower Foods, which recently crossed $100 million in top line revenue despite being less than five years old. We could go through a bunch of examples of these types of food brands, but there's a common theme of new foods getting into the marketplace and having huge valuations. Cauliflower Foods hit it with cauliflower pizza crusts, and Lilbucks is doing it with sprouted buckwheat, which is more popular in the Eastern world than it is in the Western world. There are many millions of dollars to be had introducing healthier options to the marketplace. That's always been the case. It always will be the case. And there's a lot of money to be made when you introduce a new way of eating or a new food or a new snack into the marketplace that hasn't been considered before. If you want to catch the full interview with Emily, make sure you're subscribed to the capitalism.com podcast and we'll release that episode when it's ready. And finally, we want to give a hat tip to two of our members, Travis and Jenna Ziglar, who recently exited their eye care brand when they crossed a $6 million run rate. Like some of the examples we've shared in today's episode, we help entrepreneurs build seven figure businesses that they can sell. And regardless of what week it is in capitalism, it is always a good time to start a company that creates change in the world. So if you're ready for that, you can head over to capitalism.com and see how we help entrepreneurs build seven figure businesses that they can sell. Regardless of what's going on in the economy or the ocean or the stock market, the world needs more entrepreneurs who are willing to create change. That's why we bet on them, it's why we mentor them, and it's why we believe in them. Thanks for watching. We'll see you guys next week.











