Insights on Branding, Business, and Work/Life Balance

I turned off Alex's channels, my subscriptions, because it was too much stuff all the time. It was, he was in my feed too much. And it was seldom relevant to anything that I cared about.

Is this a federal class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco? So it's class action lawsuit. People grumpy that Hermes want to sell them Birkin bag. I think that's, I think there's a couple things I want to get your take on that. I also think it's just worth discussing how valuable a brand is that they can, they can do this kind of thing where they said like, no, we're not going to let you buy our most expensive deal. You have to jump through these other hoops first to even have the, the right to buy it. So just general thoughts, feelings, emotions. What do you think?

It'll be interesting to see. I should read the complaint before, you know, to understand what the causes of action are, because there are lots and lots of causes of action. My guess is that it's going to be presented as an illegal tying arrangement where you can't say if you, to buy this product, you have to buy these products as well, when those products could stand independent of the others. But, but it doesn't seem like that's what they're doing because if you go, if you go into the store and say, you know, I'm interested in this, they're like, we only have a limited number of those and we make those available to our best customers. Is that antitrust? Is that anti competitive? Does that. I mean, I don't, I, I don't think it is. Because you're talking about branded products. They're not tying them to other brands. It's all within the same brand.

So.

And they're not stopping other people from selling handbags. Like if you sold, if you sold a, a bottle and, and you said basically, you can't get the water that's in this bottle without buying this cap and this container and using this label. That could be a tying issue because what if I want to use my own colored cap and I want to put it in a canteen instead of the plastic? That's anti competitive. Because you're saying you don't get the thing that's inside unless you buy the, all of our stuff that's on the outside too. But they're not saying that. They're saying buy whatever you want to put in the handbag. Buy whatever coats and plates and blankets you want. If you want our thing, you've got to be a customer. That's at a certain level and has spent a certain amount of money. It'll be interesting to see. Seems like a tough case without knowing more and like they're not, they're not price fixing. They're not. You know, it's actually significantly less expensive to buy a Birkin in Hermes than it is to buy one on the secondary market. And you've got companies like Patek Philippe and all the luxury brands ap, you know that, that do similar things even Chanel to climb, kind of climb up the ladder to get the, the nicer, rarer stuff. So I, I think they're going to have a tough time doing it. And really like the secret. You can go and buy her maze on your first visit with no appointment. You can walk in a store. I know because we've done it. And if you have a conversation with the people and create a relationship and yes, spend some money but maybe 5 to 7,000, then they'll sell you a bag. If they've got one, they will sell you a bag. I, it has happened multiple times to us in different Hermes stores in different countries. So that, you know, I think there's a little bit of a myth as to how difficult it is and I'm sure that Hermes doesn't hate having that myth that's out there. But the truth is, is that if, if you go in and you spend a little bit of money then you can get that as well. And is that antitrust? Because like that's like, is that stopping competition? I don't see it seems, seems tough to me.

One our, our mutual buddy Alex Hormozi, who we've known since forever but obviously in the last few years he's a name that's probably known to most of our listeners because dude's just blown up on all kinds of channels. Like he made the decision he was going all in, going probably in during COVID and he really used that time to just go nuts and blow up on, on, on Tick Tock and on, on Instagram reels and his YouTube channel. And you know, just as has done really, really, really well. And so it's been, it's been interesting though because you know again we're buddies and we, you know, we'll chat back and forth and he, he put out this, this piece, this video that that kind of has, has gone a little bit, I don't say viral. Got a lot of people talking in the business world and in the influencer space because he essentially said I'm going to stop doing entertainment style videos. I'm just going to shift all of my focus back to education. In an effort to grow his audience, which most people who are out there on the different social channels want to do, he's shifted from talking almost exclusively about business to, I'm going to talk about cooking, and I'm going to talk about health, and I'm going to talk about, you know, how to, you know, what to do when you're in college. And he broadened his message for the sake of getting a lot of views and for the sake of getting more followers, which worked. But Alex is a data guy, and so when he went back and analyzed, he found that, you know, people who are watching videos on cooking, they don't necessarily ascend to then wanting to watch my business stuff. They just want to watch more cooking stuff. So he was essentially able to validate, and he broke this down, this video, that not all views are created equal and that the grind of going out there and producing tons and tons of content just to grow the audience. If you're doing this as a business owner, not as a celebrity, not as an entertainer, if you're doing this to grow your business brand, it just wasn't worth it. And he tested the strategy, found that it wasn't worth it, is pivoting back. And so that happened at the same time. I read this article in, you know, in Vox, titled Everyone is a Sellout Now. And it's basically this article where they're interviewing all these creators who are, you know, lamenting the fact that they don't really have time to create anymore. They have time to do their art. They have to always, always, always produce for, you know, the TikTok, the Instagram, and the YouTube algorithms, because if they stop, they're going to disappear, and if they disappear, they don't make any money. So one person said, you're becoming worse at your art, but you're becoming a great marketer for a product which is getting increasingly less and less good because you're focusing on all this other stuff.

So I just wonder if we're not.

Going to start seeing a shift away from the I need to be everywhere all at once strategy to, you know what, maybe we shouldn't be chasing views. Maybe we should be talking to, you know, less, and maybe we should. Should get okay with that. And I'm just curious, as someone who's invested a lot more in the, you know, social creator side of things than I have, what your take is on that?

Yeah, I. On the Alex thing, I. I think it's just common sense. I mean, it Honestly, I turned off Alex's channels, my subscriptions, because it was too much stuff all the time. It was. He was in my feed too much, and it was seldom relevant to anything that I cared about. So, you know, I'm not looking for, you know, how to have, you know, an inexpensive Chipotle protein meal for under $5 and stuff like that. I mean, just. I don't care. And I think what happens is that if you, you know, it's. It's quality versus quantity. If you're chasing everybody, then, you know, you're gonna. You're gonna maybe even turn off your core audience. Because I'm certainly, I think, an audience that Alex would want to reach. But I just was like, pretty much none of this is of interest to me.

It's funny. He said. So I'm not. Sorry to interrupt, but he said one of the catalysts that led him to start looking at the data and make this change is a good friend of his. He didn't name the person, but probably somebody that we know who he really respected and who is his ideal client, you know, because Alex is like us. Alex wants to do deals, he wants to buy companies. You know, he wants to be a part of, like, bigger things. So his. He's like, my ideal client said exactly what you said. Yeah, I pretty much, you know, love you. I've just pretty much stopped watching your stuff because it doesn't apply to me anymore.

Did you know you say, as we record this on a holiday, I like that.

I know.

Did you know that Jeff Bezos. This is what was the catalyst to having this conversation we're having today that Jeff Bezos says that work life balance is a debilitating phrase, quote unquote, and that work and life are actually a circle. What do you think about that?

I mean, what he's essentially saying is that there's like, the better your work life is, then the better your home life is going to be and, you know, on and on and on. And that one impacts the other. And then it's not this kind of like per, you know, perfect balancing act. It's that one is going to influence the other, which, you know, I think is logical. When you think about it, it's sort of like. We don't describe it as like a sleek sleep wake balance. You know, I mean, there's times when you sleep and there's times when you're awake, and if you're doing too much of one and not enough of the other, then, yeah, that's, you know, that that's not good. So I don't know. I mean, I think a lot some of this is, is a little bit playing with words. But I do agree with what he said, that this, this concept of having a, you know, a perfect balance is a bad metaphor, it's a bad visual, it's unhelpful. I think it causes you to, to, to, to feel guilty when not. And I think at the end of the day, as entrepreneurs, business owners, any high, we're always living, I think, in extremes. And I know for me I'm at my best when I'm working really, really, really hard and I'm like in extreme work mode and then I'm going to be in extreme rest and play mode. And as long as all of those things are happening, then it works for me. In terms of balance though, like it needs to be some kind of 50, 50 type deal. I don't know. I've never really bothered to count.

I like it. I agree with you. I tend to be like, if I can get completely immersed in a project, I'm very excited about it and very happy while I'm in that. Ravenously devouring every bit of information I can about it, focused on it, trying to solve a problem, whatever. And if I can check out, as you know, we did recently in Norway, I was pretty happy the whole time. Didn't really give work a thought and just absolutely enjoyed the vacation. Couple things that I think are interesting that he said. He said that it is a circle more than anything else. He said it should be that work and life are a circle. He said that if he's happy at work, he's energized at home and vice versa.

And did you see it also had a little snippy. This is Business Insider, which there's some of the snippiest little twerps I've ever seen. And I say that in a Disney loving kind of way. But just like journalists are all like, I don't know, none of them are entrepreneurs. They're like, of course he says this. When he said this, he was still married to his first wife and then they got a divorce.

I saw that as that probably didn't have anything to do with work life balance.

My God.

Yeah, it's funny because he kind of euphemized it out in Amazon as work, life, harmony, which is not terrible. But what I thought was really interesting. I haven't heard anybody say this before. And let's see, they said in a. He says he's more energized, better husband, better dad. When he's happy at home, a better boss, a better colleague. And then of course, right after that they put the little snipe. Bezos was married to Mackenzie Scott at the time, you know, but he said, here it is. He said, if you can get your work life to where you enjoy half of it, that's amazing. Very few people ever achieve that. I thought that was really interesting because.

You know, he said everything comes with.

Pieces that you like and that you don't like, man. That if I was unhappy at work half the time, I don't know that I would stay. What do you think about that?

It felt about right to me.

Yeah.

So basically.

Would you feel that way.

If you were half happy at home.

And half completely not happy?

I think it's tough because like how one defines happiness is, you know, is a big part of it. Because there's definitely times when I am not happy when one of my children comes to me on a, you know, Tuesday night.

He's defining it as enjoy.

As enjoy. Yeah. But even that I think. So let me give you this example because I believe that this is a personal analogy, that there's a lot of work related things. So my kid comes to me, it's nine o' clock at night, I'm kind of ready to go to bed and they're like, oh my gosh, I just forgot I've got this project due tomorrow. And it's like, oh yeah, and I need a poster board for. It's like how late is Office Depot open? Can I even get a poster board at this hour? And you have to spring into action and deal with this like thing. And in that moment all I want to do is strangle my child. And I think any parent out there knows exactly what I mean.

But I think those are also more than one left.

That's why, it's why you have multiple ones though, in case. Yeah, no, bad joke. Anyway, I do think that that is one of those times when in the moment I don't enjoy it, but afterwards it created a memory, it created a moment that we might still talk about today. So I do believe that a lot of work is that. And there's the. Am I enjoying it in the moment versus was this good, solid, focused activities. And so for me there's some work.

That I do that I don't over enjoyment though.

Yeah, there's plenty of work that I don't necessarily enjoy in the moment, but I'm glad that I did it when it's done, it's like exercise. And so I would, I Guess if that work lives in the 50% that you don't enjoy, I'm okay with it.

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