Cut to the Highest Margin: AI, Focus, and a 300% Profit Jump
A California marketing agency cut staff from seven to two, kept top-line revenue flat, and raised profit 300% — the result of narrowing to the highest-margin offer and layering in tax strategy. Pam Jordan says AI fear is a distraction; the move is to use it to automate, monetize, and buy back time. She walks through how her firm uses AI to transcribe client calls, review tax returns for strategy gaps, build dashboards, and draft emails in her own voice. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley close with a lightning round where Pam names lack of cash and profitability as the core reason businesses fail, calls the belief "I have to pay taxes" dangerous, and says a W2 side hustle is the most underrated first move anyone can make.
Timestamps:
- (00:00) AI or fall behind – automate, monetize, stop letting fear waste time
- (04:35) 300% profit jump – California agency cuts staff from seven to two
- (06:41) Rewrite the contract – what the new American work deal actually requires
- (11:54) Lightning round – dangerous beliefs, the key P&L line, the first move
- (13:12) Final frame – daily income focus, legal tax cuts, the side hustle unlock
Pam Jordan – Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn
Transcript
Jerremy pivots to the AI disruption RESHAPING what every
2
:business owner thought they'd
built—and Pam doesn't flinch.
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:What starts as a fear conversation turns
into the clearest blueprint yet for
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:turning chaos into a permanent edge.
5
:Jerremy Newsome: switching
gears for a hot second.
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:Your clients, small business
owners or maybe even W2 workers are
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:gonna be, are being told that AI
is gonna be changing everything.
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:When that fear shows up potentially
in a financial planning conversation,
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:does it change the actual decisions
people make and or what are you kind
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:of telling some of these, just some of
your clients, like how to handle this?
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:Pam Jordan: Used correctly, AI will
make all of our lives easier, and
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:so it's just having conversations
with the clients to understand
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:based on your product or service.
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:What's available to you?
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:like we've got a lot of hairstylists.
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:AI can't cut your hair, AI is
not gonna cut client's hair,
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:so they're not going anywhere.
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:However, they can definitely utilize
AI for their marketing, for their
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:scheduling, client communication,
getting testimonials and referrals.
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:So there's still benefits, but.
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:You know, there's other
industries where they're like,
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:oh, well, AI's gonna take over.
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:Okay, well how about instead of being
afraid of it, why don't you utilize it
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:and capitalize it as long as you can?
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:We've got some clients that are in
the education space, like gurus, they
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:sell courses and they're definitely
afraid, that AI's gonna take over.
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:And I'm like, okay, well how about
you leverage AI and make your product
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:easier to fulfill on, automate as much
as you can, bring more value So that.
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:There's a distinct difference between
you and just a bot telling 'em what,
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:how they should, one client's like
in the short term rental space.
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:So like, yeah, you can go on Claude
and ask how to set up an, an Airbnb,
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:but you as the guru who has 200 doors,
bring something different to the table.
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:So I think fearing AI doesn't help anyone.
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:It's a matter of how to
use it and monetize it and
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:automate and save time because.
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:Dave's point, our greatest
asset is our time.
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:So how can you use AI to use
more of your time with what only
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:you can do and that a bot can't
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:Jerremy Newsome: How are you doing that
in your business personally, because
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:Pam Jordan: day?
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:Jerremy Newsome: Give,
give me more, tell me more.
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:Pam Jordan: Yeah, so all of our calls,
are on Zoom, and so we have an AI bot
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:that's in all of our calls that does
both the transcript, the summary action
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:items, and creates a follow-up email.
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:so it's very easy for clients and
our team to stay focused on with this
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:particular client we collect about
the Augusta rule and the accountable
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:plan and setting a retirement plan.
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:And then the bot sends the follow up
email that says, here's our action
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:items and assigns them to people.
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:Huge time saver for my team, also
for our analysis, on the front end.
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:So we use AI to review past year's
tax returns and figure out where
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:potential gaps we're using the
strategies that we typically use.
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:So it saves us analysis time, our CFOs.
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:Use ai.
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:we use lovable right now, but the fun
thing with AI is like next week there'll
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:be another one that we use, right?
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:So this week we're using lovable, to
make our client dashboards and, but it's
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:all prompted using our CFO prompts and
our benchmarks that we're looking for.
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:And then what we're doing
is then translating that.
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:To our clients.
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:'cause showing a client a dashboard
makes them feel good about themselves
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:as long as the lines are going
up and everything's green, right?
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:But then helping them tie that metric to
their goals is where the person comes in.
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:We also use AI for our correspondence.
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:a lot of our content, and,
marketing strategy, lead funnels.
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:we use it for our internal dashboards, to
make sure that each department is meeting
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:their metrics and profitability for all of
our departments is where it needs to be.
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:convert, tracking, conversion rate,
cac, like we use AI all the time.
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:And then I also use, AI to
make my emails sound nice.
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:Dave: ha ha ha!
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:Jerremy Newsome: Make me sound nice.
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:Dave: Ha ha ha ha!
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:Pam Jordan: Yeah, I have a GPT that's
like in Pam's voice that I built, and so
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:I'll be like, this is what I wanna say.
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:Make it sound nice and it'll spit out.
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:So
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:Jerremy Newsome: That's
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:Pam Jordan: my
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:Jerremy Newsome: awesome.
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:Pam Jordan: as aggressive as my head.
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:Jerremy Newsome: That's awesome.
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:I love that.
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:Pam, tell us the story, right?
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:Tell us about one client
who played the game.
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:Right.
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:They understood the numbers, they
used the tax opportunities, they
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:built the habits and actually turned.
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:Chaos into stability.
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:What did it look like on
the, on their ground level?
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:Pam Jordan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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:So I've got one client,
out West California.
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:In the marketing space, agency,
and what we did is basically really
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:honed in on what his goals were
and his goals were quality of life.
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:He wanted money, for his quality of life.
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:California is not cheap.
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:he wanted money for generosity.
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:he had some very, big generosity goals to
support some nonprofits that he was into
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:and he wanted time with his wife and kids.
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:and at that, when we first started hanging
out, he had a big team and a lot of
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:different offerings, and so we got his
numbers in order, figured out where he was
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:making the highest profit margin and got
rid of all the other service offerings.
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:And so we just dialed in his
offer to what was most profitable
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:and what he enjoyed doing.
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:We drastically.
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:decreased his team.
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:so I think he had seven at the
time, and now he's got two.
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:and so we drastically decreased
his team 'cause he wasn't doing all
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:the, the branding and all the stuff
that he didn't enjoy doing and his
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:profitability wasn't as high on.
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:And so now he's just honed in on a product
offer that has a high profit margin.
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:He has key members that are making
good money fulfilling on it.
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:And he's not grinding day after day long
days, and he's got more money in the bank.
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:We implemented tax strategy.
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:He's keeping way more of his money.
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:We only pay taxes if we want to pay taxes,
and he's also living a very generous
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:life, giving a lot of money away to the
nonprofits that he really cares about,
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:Jerremy Newsome: I like it.
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:Nice.
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:Well, congrats to that.
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:Klin.
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:Pam Jordan: hasn't gone down.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Hey, that's cool.
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:That's always good to hear.
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:Pam Jordan: went up 300%, but his
top line revenue stayed the same.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Holy smokes.
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:Wow.
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:Dang.
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:Yeah, that's a big deal.
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:That's incredible.
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:Pam Jordan, with all of your
knowledge, skills, and expertise,
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:just for fun, before we get into
a lightning round, if you were to
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:rewrite a New American work contract.
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:One that works for the W2 worker,
maybe even the business owner,
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:potentially the mom who needs
flexibility, possibly even a person
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:who pivoted after a company collapse.
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:What are the financial commitments
that have to be in that new American
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:contract for it to actually work or semi?
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:How would you design it and
what would that look like?
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:That would solve a lot of the problems
that we currently face as a workforce.
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:Pam Jordan: I think the core truth is
we all want freedom of time and money.
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:Everyone gets out of bed because
we want freedom of time and money
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:and what that looks like for
different people is different.
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:Like for some it might be I wanna be
home with my kids more than I'm away.
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:For others it might be
I wanna be on a plane.
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:For others it, know, I wanna
play golf twice a week.
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:But the core of what everyone that
I talk to, all the business owners,
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:all the networking events, it's I've
been to six events so far this year.
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:Everybody wants freedom
of time and money and so.
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:needs to be the core truth of
what we're all trying to achieve.
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:What, whether you're a W2 or business
owner, the next piece is understand what
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:can you bring to the, the marketplace,
like a marketplace that brings value
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:that someone will exchange you money for?
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:And if it's your time,
then you're gonna be a W2.
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:And that's perfectly fine.
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:If it's you wanna create something,
then you're a business owner.
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:And you just need to decide which bucket
you're in and then go do that thing.
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:And if you hate it, there's
resources to go learn something else.
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:Some of my wealthiest clients are
tradespeople, like and plumbers.
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:You wanna make some money, go
learn how to run an A-H-V-A-C unit.
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:Electric, be an electrician, be a plumber.
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:Does that cost money?
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:Yeah.
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:Community college is a lot
cheaper in trade schools.
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:We have, High schoolers graduating
with welding certificates.
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:Like wanna make money trades.
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:That's, that's a concern that we have.
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:Like we are gonna run outta trades
people like, 'cause everyone's gonna
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:college and getting all this debt
and then sitting in an office and
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:have terrible work life integration
have divorces and miserable kids.
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:We want freedom of time and money.
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:There's other skills out there.
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:So, do I have a kitschy phrase for it?
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:No.
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:I think we all want
freedom of time and money.
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:I think we all need to realize what
we can bring to the marketplace
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:that someone will give us money for,
and then we need to do that thing.
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:And if we hate that thing, then
you need to go do a new thing.
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:Dave: hm hm hm hm.
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:Ha ha!
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:So what's, what's the first move?
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:So there's plenty of people that
are listening to this that also
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:feel like that deal that they've
been sold, right, is falling apart.
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:The job's unstable, the savings isn't
there, their path isn't super clear,
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:and if they're the ones that are
responsible for it, if the individual
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:is like on the hook for it, Great.
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:What's their first move?
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:Not the whole plan,
what's their first move?
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:Pam Jordan: What do they enjoy doing
and what do people ask them Advice on?
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:And it might be you are the best at
throwing your kids' birthday parties.
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:The party favors are amazing.
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:The table decorations are fire.
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:The wall hanging is so
Instagramable freaking tastic.
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:You now have a party planning business,
or you go to Canva and create a checklist
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:on how to be as good as you at partying at
scheduling a party and sell it for 2 99.
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:Like the thing that people.
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:to do is look in the mirror
and be like, what am I good at?
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:What do I enjoy doing?
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:And what do people ask me about?
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:What do people ask
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:Jerremy Newsome: Hmm.
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:Pam Jordan: on?
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:That's what you bring to the marketplace,
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:Jerremy Newsome: Mm-hmm.
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:Pam Jordan: and if you hate
that thing, then don't do it.
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:But if you've got bills and debt,
sometimes it's time to suck it up and
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:do that thing because you might not
love party planning, but everybody
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:always asks your advice on it.
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:So then.
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:Charge double so that you can go and, I
don't know, become a real estate agent or
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:whatever it is that you wanna do for real.
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:But the first thing is,
what do you enjoy doing?
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:What are you good at?
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:What do people ask your advice on?
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:And what do pay someone pay you for?
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:Because everyone has something.
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:And if they're like, I don't,
okay, then start driving your
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:car for Uber or cutting grass.
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:Jerremy Newsome: You are telling me that
there's a thousand choices out there.
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:Pam Jordan: There's a
million choices out there.
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:Jerremy Newsome: That's right.
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:Dave: hm hm hm.
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:Hm.
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:Jerremy Newsome: That's right.
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:I love it.
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:I mean, yeah, I think you and I share
this similar mindset where it's.
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:You know, if there's some government
assistance at some stage, great.
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:But the challenge generally, I, I
think, I think the government could,
228
:should, should slash could step in
for like scholarships for college.
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:but generally when the government gets
involved, at least from the private
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:sector, it's not gonna be extremely
fortuitous as we've seen in all the.
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:Somali daycares in Minnesota
and California and everything.
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:That's just getting extremely,
extremely fraudulent over there
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:in that, in that situation.
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:but from a lightning round perspective,
I'm gonna ask you a few questions.
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:You just hit me with your quick answer
'cause you're doing a great job at
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:that, by the way, which is awesome.
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:All right.
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:True or false, most small businesses
fail because of bad sales.
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:Pam Jordan: False
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:Jerremy Newsome: Why do they fail?
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:' Pam Jordan: cause they don't have
cash, they don't have profitability.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Oh, snap.
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:All right, the finish this sentence.
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:The most dangerous financial lie
Americans tell themselves is,
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:Pam Jordan: I have to pay taxes.
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:Jerremy Newsome: oh yeah, Pam,
shoot, coming out the gate.
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:That's good.
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:All right.
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:W2 or 10 99.
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:If you're starting over today,
which do you take and why?
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:Pam Jordan: 10 99 because
then you're your own.
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:You can be your own boss.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Easy enough.
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:What's the one line item on a p and
L that tells you everything about
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:whether a business is actually healthy?
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:Pam Jordan: Net operating
income, also known as profit
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:Jerremy Newsome: Finish this sentence.
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:Flexibility at work isn't a perk.
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:It is a.
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:Pam Jordan: requirement.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah,
that was my answer too.
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:All right, in one sentence, what does
the New American deal need to guarantee
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:that the old one never delivered.
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:Pam Jordan: Freedom of time and money.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Last one, Pam.
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:Most underrated tax move a
W2 worker can make right now.
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:Okay.
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:Pam Jordan: Start a side hustle.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Boom.
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:Pam, I really like this.
271
:This was super fun.
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:I think extremely tangible too
for people who are listening.
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:Like there are legitimate action
items that you can all take right now.
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:Pam, what's the easiest way for
any of our listeners, if they
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:want to, to get ahold of you?
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:Pam Jordan: Absolutely,
just go to pam jordan.com.
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:That's my website.
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:And on social, I'm Pam Jordan,
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:Jerremy Newsome: Thank you so much, Pam.
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:You're a rockstar.
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:Appreciate your time today.
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:Pam Jordan: Jerremy.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yep.
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:You got it.
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:Dave: Right.
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:Wow.
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:I love, I thank you for introducing
me to such magical people.
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:Pam, Pam is fan.
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:Jerremy Newsome: She's a fireball dude,
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:Dave: love that energy.
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:there's, it, it just, I can, I hope I, I
can just imagine that she just wakes up,
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:wakes up every morning and goes, boom.
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:Jerremy Newsome: bro.
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:She's like that too.
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:We've hung out a few different
times, and that's just her at 9:00
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:PM or 9:00 AM It's kind of cool.
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:Dave: love it.
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:Jerremy Newsome: She's a hoot.
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:Yeah, she is.
300
:Very, very smart.
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:Very smart.
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:Yeah.
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:What did you, what did you learn my homie.
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:Dave: Hmm.
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:I think I'm frustrated.
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:and it came out a little bit,
a little bit harsh, but that's,
307
:that's kind of my day to day.
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:I'm a little tired of, of, people,
and I'm not just saying Pam or
309
:you, or I'm, I'm saying this sort
of like the general people, the
310
:zeitgeist of letting politicians
and business owners and institutions
311
:and academics let 'em off the hook.
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:We're like, eh.
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:Like, we don't want you in our, we
don't want you all up in our grill.
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:And I, I think that's bullshit.
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:I healthcare has doubled and the
outcomes are not noticeably better.
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:The fuel prices here have
gone through the roof.
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:The fact that there's not a tax
holiday for the next two years,
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:and the state of Florida is.
319
:Criminal, companies are just
nuking jobs left and right.
320
:They'll be called capitalists as
long as, they're making profits.
321
:But they will socialize
the losses in a minute.
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:You know, like as soon as
they're, they're making money,
323
:it's all capitalism, we got it.
324
:But as soon as they have
some losses, forget it.
325
:They're, they're turning
it over to the state.
326
:So I, I.
327
:We have to stop letting these people,
these institutions, these politicians,
328
:these corporate titans, we have
to stop letting them off the hook.
329
:It's got to stop.
330
:We are giving them a free
ride, and that is bonkers,
331
:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Yeah, I agree.
333
:I, I don't know how we hold 'em
accountable other than not voting 'em in.
334
:But yeah, pitch pitchforks can work.
335
:Yeah, that can, that can definitely work.
336
:Dave: I, but on the other side,
you know what Pam was actually
337
:talking about, I, I love that.
338
:Certainly the mindset of, you
know, the, the fear, uncertainty,
339
:and doubt that comes around money.
340
:I know I experience that.
341
:That's, that's, you know, an ongoing
conversation between you and I
342
:and, you know, like when you fear
this money, it's going to fear you.
343
:And
344
:Jerremy Newsome: I.
345
:Dave: are so many opportunities
when you, when you actually
346
:focus on, on making money.
347
:It's the one thing I was talking to my
sister about is like, you know, if I,
348
:if in a given day, if I'm not focusing
on what it takes in order to make
349
:money, and, and with that, you know,
it's through this podcast, it's through
350
:the, the different vehicles around
the, the, the Jerremy Newsom Empire.
351
:And you know, like if I'm not focusing on
that, then what am I actually focusing on?
352
:Because that is what.
353
:You know, that's what's going to
actually move the, the needle.
354
:It's gonna provide the freedom, it's
gonna provide the, the, the ease
355
:in order for me to actually live my
life and to live it, beautifully.
356
:And so I, I like hearing that and,
and seeing it, and hearing it from the
357
:point of view of like taxes, which,
which seems so, you know, crazy.
358
:It's like the, your, your
deep dark feelings on taxes.
359
:I think that that's great.
360
:And I, and I love hearing that from Pam.
361
:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah, same, same man.
362
:I wouldn't, I wouldn't say specifically I
learned anything brand new, although what
363
:I will say is it reaffirmed from a person
who is literally a professional in that
364
:sphere saying, Hey, taxes is paperwork.
365
:If you have a job.
366
:And you don't want to pay taxes.
367
:You don't have to.
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:Dave: Right.
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:Jerremy Newsome: kind of the lie, right?
370
:That's the, the lightning round.
371
:Like if you pay a whole bunch of
taxes, you're doing something wrong.
372
:You're doing something wrong.
373
:You, you really don't
have to pay that much.
374
:Like there are ways legally,
very legally, to it least.
375
:Decrease it, you know, and
even if you're kicking the can
376
:down the road a little bit.
377
:She mentioned some of the college plans
or IRA plans that people can open up where
378
:they can throw in post-tax, pre-tax money.
379
:You can, there's, there's
a lot of ways, right?
380
:Opening up an LLC costing $300 or less
in most states and getting a side hustle
381
:and running your side hustle through this
LLC and the side hustle is essentially
382
:things that you're gonna be paying for.
383
:Anyway, and you're gonna try to generate
revenue through that LLC or through
384
:that company, but the generation
of that revenue is also potentially
385
:gonna decrease your taxable income
'cause you're spending money on things
386
:you're gonna spend money on anyway.
387
:Call it Dave's Donuts or
Conley's Coffee, right?
388
:And figure out a way to sell
that particular product to other
389
:people who may or may not want it.
390
:But if they do want it and they buy it
from you, you have a revenue increase.
391
:AKA more cash flow in your life and
you have a taxable decrease because
392
:all the expenses from that company are
gonna decrease your taxable income.
393
:That is a math formula and you are right.
394
:I personally believe that anyone
who fears and, and has the financial
395
:stress and struggles, which we all
have from time to time, but if we
396
:want to dissipate that the focus
should be for at least an hour a day.
397
:Minimum every an hour, a day, every
day for the rest of your life.
398
:If you wake up and go for this hour, what
can I do to generate specifically more
399
:income using skills, services, tools,
networks, people, value creation, time
400
:talents, like she mentioned, Hey, if you,
someone keeps asking you to plan a party.
401
:Plan a flipping party dude.
402
:Like if people keep asking to do
something and you have the skills to do
403
:it, focus on it for a period of time,
at minimum an hour a day, which is seven
404
:hours a week, which everyone has that
amount of time to making more money.
405
:'cause you are my brother.
406
:Exactly correct.
407
:If you do make more money, everyone wants
more time freedom and more money freedom.
408
:And when you have both of those
things, you will feel more free.
409
:You'll feel more happy.
410
:And it's available for
anyone who wants it.
411
:Dave: Fantastic.
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:Wrap us
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:Jerremy Newsome: for our, for our
listeners out there, if you liked
414
:this episode as much as I did,
share it with some other peeps.
415
:Give it a circulation on your social
medias, and before you do that, or while
416
:you do that, or during the doing of
that, hit that five star review because
417
:it tells people that we are continuing
every week to post content information.
418
:About money, about markets, about
psychology, about people, businesses, ai,
419
:politics, the combination of all of those,
the interchange and the inner connection
420
:of some of the most powerful forces on
earth and how we can all take advantage of
421
:it, and most importantly, how we can all
get together and solve America's problems.
