“Hey, I just bought you this dress. Do you like it?”
“Aww thank you, it’s beautiful, how much did it cost?” replied my girlfriend.
“0.00023% of our house”, I paused “I got it on a great deal!”
“What?”
“What what?”
“What do you mean it cost… zero zero… something… percent of our house?”
“Oh, I just added our home’s value to this thing:”
I open my wallet and pull out a credit card looking… card.
“It’s called a Casa Card, and it lets us access our home’s equity in cash!” I said, barely containing my excitement.
“And the best part is… there is no interest or monthly payment!” I continue, “they only get paid after 30 years or after we sell the house.”
My girlfriend just stared at me, like her brain had just hit a loading screen.
“Let me get this right, you bought that dress with a portion of our home’s equity?”
“Essentially… yes.”
If the idea of a Casa Card ever turns from an idea…
…into reality.
Conversations like the above will become the norm.
Thankfully:
It seems Silicon Valley is still too busy sipping on the AI kool-aid…
…to show any serious interest in funding this scam fintech startup…
Because this is like Klarna on fent.
It’s like saying your kidneys are valuable – ‘but all that extra value is locked away in your flesh, not in your pocket!’
What happens when you go into an overdraft on your KidneyKard?
Do they take your other organs as an overdraft fee?
(Imagine having this as a cherry on top of your 50-year mortgage.)
I’m so glad I’m not retarded – otherwise this would appeal to me.
I don’t know where I’m going with this – nor where the loop for supplements is here.
Perhaps the absolute artificiality of this economy?
Burning money on AI like there’s no tomorrow without anything productive to show for it… BNPL explosion… now the option of liquidating your house one bit at a time to pay for clothes…
The inevitable crash – WHEN it happens, not if – will probably rival that of 08/09.
It’s been a long time coming…
And the time to prepare for it?
Right NOW.
Not when SHTF…
N-o-w.
It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark, in fact, others deemed him crazy for 39 days…
But he wasn’t so crazy afterwards, was he?
And by “prepare” I don’t mean just build out your war chest – that’s an asset, sure…
I mean build relationships with your customers.
Because what happens during recessions?
Most – even “qualified” economists – would tell you people stop spending…
But they don’t.
They’re just more picky on WHAT and WHOM they spend it on.
Supplements are what I call a “small luxury” – people still keep spending money on them during a recession…
…because they improve their quality of life while not being too costly to pull the plug on.
(Like eating out, for instance.)
So you’ve got the what covered – which just leaves whom…
Will you be THE supplement brand they get all their proteins from?
That depends on how strong a “relationship-glue” you have with them.
(More on this in-depth inside my book in Blind Spot #2)
“That’s all right, but I’ll just use my war chest to buy meta ads at fire sale prices – like during COVID”.
I wouldn’t rely on it.
Yes, Meta/Google’s ad prices will likely come down – as they historically have during economic downturns – but that’s overlooking something very important:
People who don’t know you, don’t like you, don’t trust you, don’t have a relationship with you…
(i.e. they’re completely COLD prospects)
Don’t buy directly from paid ads.
And however small the number of people that do is…
…you can safely lower it 2-5x during recessions.
Whereas EMAIL?
They’re the people with whom you DO have a relationship.
(At least, if you’re doing it right – a la Email Storyselling way 😎)
And:
It’s virtually free – no checks sent to Cuckerberg.
Will those people buy from you…
…or some rando’s “🔥BOGO50!!!” ad they just saw for the first time on their Instagram feed?
And if I’m dead wrong about everything?
If the economy somehow keeps limping on…
…and no hammer is about to drop?
(Unlikely – since they come, on average, every 7-13 years but alas…)
Then you’ll still be MILES ahead of the competition!
Who don’t have and/or don’t sustain engaged email newsletters… who continue trawling Facebook for leads, JVs and others for their growth and future.
However it turns out:
I’ll be here.
Plugging out email after email. Day in and day out. Building relationship after relationship…
[Part of this email’s content has been removed from this Email Echoes version of it.]
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