All right everybody, welcome to Iran Book Show on this Wednesday morning on a weird time to be doing a show, I know, but what the hell, let's do some reaction videos, action Jackson is all excited. But, but yeah, do a little bit more flexible stuff, do some reaction videos and, and respond to current events and things are happening. I've got, don't have a lot of time. So this will not be a regular show. This will be probably 30 minutes of me basically articulating my, my, I guess responses to what happened last night or yesterday in the election front. So we'll talk a little bit about that winners, losers and stuff like that. Of course, it's still early. There are many, many races and maybe the most important races. We have not gotten results yet. They're still up in the air. So we'll be able to update whatever we say today in the, in the days and weeks ahead. It looks like Georgia is going to be, we won't know anything about Georgia and Georgia might be decided the control of the Senate and Georgia will not be decided probably until December because in Georgia you need 50% of the vote. And it looks like both candidates will be just under 50%. Although it does look like in a runoff, if I had a, if I had a guess who's going to win in a runoff, you'd have to give, you'd have to give a slight advantage to the Democrat in a runoff. But we will see, we will see, we will see what happens. Alright, so as usual, we take questions and we take supporters on the Super Chat. I don't know that I'll be able to answer all the Super Chat questions. I only have half an hour to cover this topic. But if you want to express your support for the show, if you want to express support for me doing more reaction videos, then go ahead and use the Super Chat to express that support. It's a great way to show support for what I am trying to, trying to do. Wow, we got quite a few people logging in. I'm surprised this was a last minute decision of mine to do this. And again, I don't have a lot of time and only announced it a few minutes ago. So this is great. Even Catherine is here. Even Catherine is here and a few people have just woken up, I guess, if they're on the West Coast, they're just waking up unless they just sleep in mornings, which is also possible.  I mean, in that sense, it was a good election yesterday. I think in many other regards, it was a very bad election yesterday. But in the sense that I don't know if this will be the nail in the coffin of Donald Trump. I mean, he keeps coming back.  I would have thought that losing a presidential election as an incumbent would have been it for Donald Trump. But he came back. You would think that the defeat of Make America Great Again candidates almost across the board, not across the board, some of them won. But, you know, that whole part section of the Republican Party being defeated all across the country in, you know, there'd be no red wave, certainly no red tsunami. Maybe people are calling it a red trickle, maybe a red trickle. But really, Republicans think of beating yesterday, a beating yesterday. The reality is that a midterm election with an incumbent who's this unpopular should have seen Republicans pick up the Senate by two, three, four votes. It should have seen Republicans pick up the House by 20, 30, 40 votes. It looks like the Senate at best Republicans will pick up one. At worst, they will lose one. It looks like in the House Republicans will probably take a majority, but it's not even certain. I mean, that in itself is a shock. The idea that we're sitting here Wednesday morning and we can't say that the Republicans won the House of Representatives was certainty. Wow. I would have never expected that. That is a surprise to me, even though I didn't think Republicans will do as well as some thought. That is a shock to me. I thought they would easily take the House. Almost every indication was that they were easy going to take the House and they did not. A number of races in places like Virginia and elsewhere that people expected Democrats to lose and expected Republicans to gain didn't happen. It didn't happen. So across the board, this is this is about a good in election as one would expect. As good in an election as one would expect from the Democrats in a midterm election where the Democrats hold the presidency. I mean, the expectation is, if you look at all other than the 2002 post 9 11, almost at every midterm election, the president's party loses significantly.  And the real question is going to be and has to be the real interesting question. I think is why it's not if that I think is well established, even if you know, somehow Republicans managed to win Arizona, which I don't think they will. They might win the governor of Arizona still. But we will see. I don't think that will in the Senate in Arizona. They'll probably win in Nevada, which will make the Senate basically 50 50 waiting on the result from Georgia. But again, it's going to be underwhelming even if the Republicans pick up a seat. And then of course, in the house, it looks like Republicans will get a majority. But not the kind of majority Kevin McCarthy was expecting. Not the kind of majority a red wave or rich tsunami would suggest. So if you're Democrat, you should be super happy ecstatic today. If you're Republican, got a look in the mirror, something went very, very wrong. Something went very, very wrong. And I think basically that the two issues I think that we're talking about right now, I mean, there's going to be other stuff to talk about in the again in the days and weeks to come. But the two issues are one is Trump and two is abortion. The big winner really across the board of this election was the issue of abortion, pro abortion. The I think it had it mobilized Democrats, it gave them it gave them a topic on a in a year where the Democrats had nothing really to talk about because the economy was going against them, almost on every issue, they weren't popular on the social issues. Other than abortion, the country was moving away from them. And really the only issue they could hammer away at were two. Only issues they could hammer away at with two. One was abortion. And the second was election denial. Crazy Republican candidates. And they did a very good job on both of those. The fact is that every ballot initiative that came to the forefront on the issue of abortion, it looks like was voted in the direction of the pro choice, pro abortion side, the so called pro life, the anti abortion side lost has lost on pretty much every one of those every one of those ballots, abortion matters to Americans, abortion matters to Republican women so in in places where decent Republican candidates ran and won. Republicans Republicans overwhelmingly voted for those candidates, but when it came to the abortion vote, a lot of Republicans voted against their party, if you will. And I think a lot of that is Republican women who I've known for a long time don't hold anti abortion positions. They just stay quiet. They're afraid to voice the pro choice position so they stay quiet. So so the abortion issue played out well for Democrats. I think it motivated turnout, although again, turnout does not seem to be a significant issue in this election. But it it shifted a lot of a lot of Republican votes who typically vote Republican across the board on the abortion issue voted against the typical Republican position. So that's good news. And I think a lot of house a lot of house races that looked close one Democratic because of the abortion issue. You know, I think that's certainly true in place like Virginia in other places. So abortion rights are a significant victory this morning in terms of this election, right? This election. So that's that's one, right? The second is is Trump. Trump is not popular. Trump is not popular. Trump has never been popular. He won in 2016, but then immediately became super unpopular. He is not popular among independents. He's not popular among Democrats. He's not popular among many Republicans. Since Trump won in 2016, Republicans lost the house in 2018, the Senate and the White House in 2020. And now in a year where they should have done phenomenally well, phenomenally well, Republicans should have swept in. They should have been a wave. They should have been a tsunami. Look at the economy. Look at Biden's popularity. I mean, it's just unthinkable how bad Republicans have done in this election, no matter what the outcome of the next few, you know, he's done unbelievably badly. And why is it? Because character matters. And people despise justifiably the character of Donald Trump. Because lying, explicitly lying, provocatively lying, lying in America people's faces in about about things that American care about, like elections, election denialism was thoroughly defeated in this election. Now, again, some candidates were election deniers one. But it's interesting, the governor of Wisconsin who said, once I'm done, Wisconsin will always vote Republican. Republicans will always win the Arizona Secretary of State, who is an election that I also said he would have would have never certified the 2020 election. Of course, in the primaries already in Georgia, all the election denialists lost. So you've got you've got ours losing you've got we'll see what happens in Arizona. That's yet to be defined. But across the board, it seems that well, not across the board, because some election denialists did win. But in the important race is election denialists lost. So American people are not are not ready to accept people who try to steal elections. I mean, look at Stacey Abrams. Stacey Abrams was an election denialist. She claimed she didn't lose the last gubernatorial race. She ran again on an election denialist somewhat platform on the Democratic side. What was the consequence? She lost big time this time. I mean, big time was even close. Americans don't buy it.   Maybe that's a sexist comments. But anyway, man's up to the fact that they lost. So you know, so I think that I think that an extra denialist just as I hoped, and I have to say, in that sense, I'm happy about this election. Election denialists seem to have lost big time. We'll see. Again, Arizona is the big question mark. But it seems that across the board, you know, some will still pass like Johnson in Wisconsin will still get elected and others in other places. But in New Hampshire, the guy lost. Where else was it? There were another New York for governor, the Republican lost. So in places where Republicans nominated election denialist, Trump like candidates, you know, unhinged candidates, those candidates lost, or at least so far, we'll see Arizona. So that's great news. That is really good news. The bad news is, of course, the Democrats won. You know, so the question now is, well, the Democrats going to learn from this, is it going to reinvigorate their world culture? Is it going to reinvigorate their status tendencies and economics? Or will they learn the lesson, which I think is correct, that the reason they won is not because of their virtues. American people don't like them. But the reason they won is because of the abortion issue, the Supreme Court basically handed them the issue.  And then of course, what will the Republicans learn? And we'll know this. Trump's big announcement is six days, I guess. Is the Republican party going to call us against Trump in spite of the fact that he is a loser?  He turned Florida completely red. They flipped house seats. They overwhelmingly won the Senate. And he won an overwhelming victory as governor. Not only that, flipping a Democratic county, I mean, Miami Dade has always been Democratic, always, and taken for granted as Democratic. And and went overwhelmingly, I think, both for the Santas and for the Senate candidate. Now again, I'm not. I'm not a big DeSantis fan. Let's let's not get let's get not not get too excited about this, but I'm not. I'm not a big DeSantis fan, but and we'll see how he runs for president what he's like as a presidential candidate. But you know, I am I am not a DeSantis fan, but he sure beats we're seeing the shift in the Republican Party. Republican Party, this election basically has said no to Trump. Yes, to the Santas. Now, whether the hard core of the Republican Party, the people who vote in the primaries, the people who get energized around primaries will hold to that. Whether they'll stick to that and whether in a context between Trump and DeSantis, Trump can still win. I don't know. But yes, this day was DeSantis's day and it was not Trump's day. A lot of the candidates Trump endorsed. A lot of the candidate Trump was most excited about a lot of the candidates who mimicked and Trump's talking points lost. So does the Republican Party learn from this? Does it now abandon Trump? Does it now start coalescing around somebody like DeSantis or having a real primary, having a real competition for president? Does the Republican Party become serious? One of the things that I think that was unique about one of the things that I think was important about this election is Republicans had no positive message. The only message was were not Democrats. The positive message was vaguely will fight against crime. How do you do that? The federal level exactly not clear. The general message was we'll fight against inflation. How? What would you do different with regard to inflation? What economic policies are you going to do differently than Biden? Nothing. Zero. So the Republican Party was basically ran on no platform, no positive ideas, no positive messaging, nothing inspiring. They ran on, but Trump, they ran on whining. They ran on complaining. They ran on anti Democrats and that didn't work. Will the Republican Party now learn from this? Shift and look for and articulate a strong positive message, a pro American message, a pro founding fathers message, a pro Constitution message, or will they continue to be the party of but but but but we're not we're not Democrats. Oh, will they continue to be the party of but we won and they stole the election. Will they continue to be the party of Donald Trump? Mindless, idea less and dishonest. Oh, will they embrace a different direction? And I think we'll know that in the next few days. We'll know that in the response to whatever announcement Trump's make. I think I think this morning, the odds of Trump running for presidents have gone down. I think he expected a red wave and a red tsunami. And in that case, he would have definitely run for president. I think now the odds are down. I don't think they're negative. I don't think they're they're small, but they're down from what they were yesterday. There's a chance that he won't run for president, that he used this opportunity to somehow bow out in in in somehow bow out, claiming he never intended to run. We'll see. But the extent to which Donald Trump now becomes an insignificant part of the Republican Party, that is the extent to which it'll be determined whether the Republicans have learned their lesson or not from this election. I think at the end of the day, we're going to get divided government as I want. I think we're going to get a Republican's House, a very small majority in the House, but enough to basically veto the bad stuff that Democrats want. I think support for Ukraine will continue because I don't think the Republicans will have enough votes to stop that. I think in the Senate, it'll either be 50 50 or 51 49 in either direction, but it doesn't really matter because Republicans will already have veto power in the House. I hope that it's the Democrats don't pick up a seat. That would be I think really bad because that will I mean, ideally what you would get now is 51 49 for Republican Senate. And but that that is so small of a victory that it won't. You know, and hopefully they win Nevada. I don't know what I want to happen in Georgia. I really don't.  And and and again, let him lose so the Republicans learn the lesson. Character matters. Quality of candidates matters. Ideas matter, presenting some vision matters. You know, there was an old saying and then I'll say then I'll go to the chat. There's an old saying that Clinton Clinton coined in 1992 and that is it's the economy stupid.    It's ideas. It's having a positive alternative. It's projecting positive values. It's not being mindless. In the way Republicans are. I'm not saying Democrats have ideas, but you know, you want to change the status quo. You've got to present a better alternative. You want to defeat the Democrats. You have to present a better alternatives. And the way Republicans embraced zero on abortion, no abortion life at conception that I think was incredibly destructive. The way they embraced denialism about Trump's loss in 2020. That is incredibly destructive and the way they embrace Trump's mannerisms and attitudes and and Trump himself. That was a negative and if those go away, Republicans can win. This is still America is still a right of center country. It is not a leftist country. It does not like woke as you can see in local elections where woke is the issue. It does not like CRT as you can see in local elections with CRT is the issue. It is not like socialism. As you can see in in in the lack of popularity for much of what Biden has done. So Republicans just need to clean up their act and it's going to take a lot for them to clean up their act because all the Republican operatives and all the Republican intellectuals are bought into this corrupt messaging. But this is their opportunity. They got a signal. The markets sent them a clear indication of what they think of the Republican Party. All right. So Alexis says, Hi, Iran. What are the signs to watch for an upcoming D Trump Trump? The station of the GOP something like that. I think I think the reaction to whatever it is that Trump announces a certainly one sign will be if Trump announces he's not running for president. That would be that would be an important signal that the Republican Party is moving on. But also if Republican if if Trump says he is running and the response is lukewarm or even negative or just just uninteresting, then I think that the Republicans are moving on. I think we'll see what happens in Nevada. I think Nevada is a big deal where the Kerry Lake pulls it out. I don't think master says much of a chance, but maybe because it hasn't been called for the Democrats and then the but but Arizona will be a good benchmark if they lose Arizona if the Republicans lose Arizona. Remember, it was a Republican governor in Arizona. That'll be a flip in the governor's mansion. A number of states have flipped Democratic Maryland flipped and Massachusetts flipped. Kerry Lake is still favored to win Arizona, but we'll see. We'll see. It's a lot of people's expectations. A lot of people's expectations about this election have turned out to be wrong. A lot of predicted. I think has not worked out the way people thought it would work out. So we'll see.  So Kerry Lake might win either the Masters will probably lose. And I think the Secretary of State won. They will lose. So whoops. I think what happened? That's not working. Let's try this. We'll get the video back in a second. I hope. All right. We'll get video back in a second. Sorry. So yeah, I mean, I think I think that the the real signs of the response, the response to Trump and, you know, and how and how that goes. No, that is not working. All right, one more thing. And then and and then we'll say sorry, I know I'm supposed to keep talking, but talking and trying to do this is a little hard. So it's going to be again, it's going to be how how the Republican Party starts setting itself up for 2024. You know, who are the leadership of the Republican Party? You know, it takes the fall for this who who survives who leads the campaign for 2024 will know within two, three months whether they are taking the whether they're moving away from Trump or not. You know, who leads the National Republican Party who is going to be the senatorial campaign. A lot of people took a hit this time. But I think the biggest thing that took a hit and this is I don't know that other people are going to talk about this, but Republicans McCarthy and McConnell purposefully ran a campaign that was idea less. They purposefully did not have an agenda with America contract with America. They purposefully ran a campaign that was anti the Democrats. It purposefully made no positive arguments made no, you know, positive claims. So to the extent that they rethink that that might be the most important thing we need Republicans to have an agenda even it's agenda I don't completely like it. This needs to be a battle of ideas, not a battle of personalities that lose on the battle of personalities.  And we're seeing that now. Okay, Brian asked, do these results restore faith in the American people? Is this an acceptance of Democratic agenda? I don't think it's an acceptance of Democratic agenda. Again, I think the country is still right of center. I think it's it's true that young people are mostly left, but young people are almost always mostly left. These young people are more left than in the past. But I think that changes as they go older. I also think that again, one of the reasons they're left is Republicans have done such a bad job articulating any kind of argument. But look, both political parties are terrible. And I think on the on the issue of the character, the kind of candidates you had. I think states that could have gone easily Republicans like Pennsylvania didn't because who wants to vote for Dr. Oz, or could have gone Republican like Arizona, who wants to really vote for Blake Masters?  I mean, look how well the governor of Georgia did. I mean, he basically crushed the Stacey Adams. Why couldn't they take the Senate? They should crush the Democrat because they nominated awful candidate awful. So I think it restores. Well, it doesn't restore my faith in the American people because I don't have that much. Again, ideologically, this country is far, far away from where I think it should be. I think this country is far, far away from the ideas that I stand for. But I think what this shows me is that American people are not quite yet willing to rally around at least the, you know, the complete emptiness, the complete pragmatism, the complete power lust, the complete, you know, we'll do anything, say anything, stand for anything just to gain power kind of Republican Party that they're not going to tolerate. They're not going to tolerate the kind of lying that Trump has elevated through his explicit pragmatism. That is that is a good thing. And that has restored a little bit of faith that I have. All right, I'm gonna have to do these really, really quickly because I don't have a lot of time. I just want to do this quickly. Let me just see. Yeah. Kenny, thank you, says finally a reasonable hour from him. Bash, Branigan says, do you think this is all will keep Trump from running for president? I don't know how to read Trump's mind. I never can. I think it definitely reduces the probability. But I don't know about how much I don't really have an assessment. And again, I think what happens in Arizona is still going to be really, really important. If Kerry Lake ekes it out, he might still interpret this as a positive. So I think Arizona is going to be crucial to what Trump decides. But it does reduce the probability. No question about it. A red tsunami would have guaranteed a Trump run. And this was a red trickle. Hello for nowhere you're on. What is your relation with Craig Biddle? And why aren't you doing more stuff together? Have a great day. I don't like Craig Biddle. I don't trust Craig Biddle. I don't like Craig Biddle. I will have nothing to do with Craig Biddle. Craig Biddle has written some horrible stuff about me. He is supported by a man who has said and done horrible stuff, said horrible stuff about me and done horrible stuff to me. I have no interest in working with Craig Biddle or doing anything with Craig Biddle. And he has no interest in doing anything with me as well. So let him do his stuff. I'll do my stuff. All in that sense, all is good. And you guys evaluate who you think is right on these issues and who you think does a better job for whatever. Wes, thank you, Wes, $50 really appreciated. Glad you got to catch this live. Daniel, I wrote you in for the governor of Minnesota. I'm waiting for the phone call. I'm waiting for the call. I'll rush up to Minnesota. I'll cancel everything and I'll take the position of governor. If, if that becomes a reality. Thank you, Daniel, for, for, for the trust. Michael says Ron DeSantis inherited a purple state and turned it bright red. He is clearly going to be the 2024 nominee. Nothing is clearly in this Republican Party, but it certainly was his day yesterday. So let's see what happens. Michael says Trump just knows how to get attention.  He's not going to put himself through it again. I hope you're right. I'm rooting for you, Michael. Joe $75. Thank you, Joe. That's brilliant. Thank you. Love all the work you do. Sorry for an off topic question. I don't usually have a chance to join the live show. Did you ever read American Banker? And if so, did you find it useful in the perspective of any of an investor in financial services company? Do you have? Oh, American Banker is the is a journal, the American Banker, the magazine, the American Banker. I certainly, I certainly do reference it. And I've been interviewed in the American Banker actually had had had my voice in the American Banker. I do find it useful as an investor in banking. I do find it useful. It has interesting stories about banks, interesting stories about CEOs of banks. I don't, I don't think I'm subscribed anymore. It's quite expensive. And I get the same information from other sources. But yes, I invest in community banks in the US. And in that sense, it is, it is, it is valuable. All right, let's see. Bash Branigan asks, I ran expressed a belief in American common sense, would that be playing a part here? Yes, I definitely think so. I don't think American common sense or the American sense of life really is with Trump. I don't think it is. I don't think it's with Biden either. I think the American people have clearly expressed that they don't like Biden, and they don't like Trump. And I think maybe the outcome of this election is that neither Biden or Trump run for president. That would be terrific. Let's get some fresh faces. Let's get some young people. You know, if I had a bet right now, I'd say, we're going to face an election in 2024. But of course, God, I mean, so much can happen between now and 2024. But between the governor of California and the governor of Florida, it'll be an election that has two clear, very distinct visions for this country. It'll have two people you could you could, you know, a lot of the decision making will be based on how they responded to COVID, which I think will be interesting. But also, it'll be just on just a general attitude. Now, there are a lot of things about the Santas I do not like. But I think a race between him and I don't think Kamala Harris has any chance. But a between him and California will be clear cut. It will be a choice. Again, neither one is a good choice, good, overwhelmingly good choice. But at least it'll be much more ideological in terms of the conflict between the two much more ideological in terms of the the content of the race. I think that both there's a sense in which to both stand up people need, you know, that both have ideas and they stand by those ideas and they push for them. Neither one of them is is a is a nutcase. Neither one of them is is a narcissist. Neither one of them is just is is a complete and out of pragmatists. Although I think the Santas, I think both do things pragmatically. But I don't think they are on principle pragmatists like like Trump is. So again, I think that would be an interesting an interesting election. You know, there's always hope for for another candidates on both left and right. I can hope for I can still hope for Nikki Haley, although I think her chances are a pretty minuscule. But again, her chances today are better than her chances two days ago. Her chances post this election are better than the chances of a political party completely and utterly dominated by Donald Trump. Great. Let me just see something here. Okay. All right. Let's see, I think we're done. I have to run for another I've got a I've got another gig in five minutes. So I should prepare for that. Thank you all for listening live. I hope this added a little bit of value a little bit of clarity at least in my view. We'll talk about this again. Once we get more results in particularly the results from Arizona and Nevada are going to be are going to be super interesting. So this is great. As you can see, I'm in a hotel room. I'm speaking later today at the University of Indiana Bloomington at the law school for the Federalist Society. So we're going to be talking about inflation. I'm sure the election might come up as well. So that's going to be fun. Tomorrow I'm driving or being driven to being driven to Akron University while I'll be speaking also to the law school to the Federalist Society over there. So these are kind of right of center law students conservatives and libertarian types. So it'll be fun tomorrow is actually debate on the regulatory state. And then on Friday, I'll be talking to really Republicans. It'll be a dominantly dominantly heavily Republican group in Colorado at leadership program Iraqis that'll be really interesting because I'm sure they'll be eager to talk about the election. And yet my topic is not election related. And I'm not really supposed to talk much about the elections. But I will. So the people who are high, I mean, I might not be happy with me. But anyway, it'll be a really interesting and of course, Colorado will go the other way, Colorado, the Republican Party elected to run for Senate, somebody who is anti anti Trump Republican, and he lost to the Democrat. But I think Colorado now is pretty solidly blue, unless a candidate is super charismatic. Okay, quickly, Michael says, the Florida legislature used to be mixed between Democrats and Republicans. Now it's almost all Republicans, both senators are Republicans. And Florida became the freeest state in the country, according to Cato and Heritage Foundation, Florida has been the freeest state in the country for a long time that is not the Santas is doing. He did not make it the fierce kind of state. It was, and you could correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that in the index of free states, Florida has been the fierce state for a long time. It doesn't have a state income tax that is true, has been true for a long time. And it has some of the loosest regulatory policies of any state in the country in terms of business formation and other things. And that's been true for a long time. So none of that yet is attributed to the Santas not I'm saying the Santas hasn't done a decent job. In some respect, he has in other respects, he's done a terrible job. But we'll get to that when we get to talk about the Santas in the future, as he runs for president. I'm not a DeSantis cheerleader. And I doubt I will be. DeSantis has played way too much into the cultural wars, way too much into the Trumpist attitudes. But anyway, thanks everybody. I will see you all certainly on Saturday. I might try to do a few more shorter shows or maybe late night shows, depending on the timing and depending on the hotels in the next few days. Bye everybody. See you soon. Thanks all the superchats. This was great. You guys did fantastic for such a short show. Thank you for the support to everybody who supports you on book show. Bye everybody.


World Radio Day 2024 celebrates the enduring legacy of a timeless communications medium. Along with the remarkable past and dynamic present, radio promises a future filled with astonishing innovations. Today, broadcast radio remains one of the most lively communications media available, disseminating information, entertainment and educational material to vast audiences in countries worldwide. As we enter the second century of radio broadcasting, the medium continues evolving. The transition to digital broadcasting and the rise of podcasting have democratized the creation and distribution of audio content, allowing a diverse array of voices to find resonance in the global soundscape. In recent decades, broadcast radio stations have become a crucial component of the public safety net too. During emergencies, the portability of radio receivers and wide reach of radio broadcasts can disseminate early warnings before and support emergency response and recovery during and after a disaster. Access to timely information can mean the difference between life and death. Radio equipment is readily available, reliable and resilient. Its relatively low-cost importability make it essential for emergency preparedness, response and recovery. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and wildfires all disrupt communication. When power lines are cut or cell towers are destroyed, radio is at hand for broadcasting emergency alerts, coordinating evacuations and providing real-time updates. Toe Lupe Pomulunuku Onesemo, Minister for Communications and Information Technology for Samoa, explains why it's important to protect radio frequencies for emergency services. We need protections around the sea bands and those parts of the spectrum at which we are utilizing for our emergency services and also around our Pacific Island, isolated islands around the middle of the ocean. There's a need for protections around those parts of the spectrum, not only for navigations but also for emergency responses. In small island developing or SID states, radio is the best and sometimes only link between remote, hard-to-reach communities. We need to consider SID states and need this part of the spectrum for their livelihoods and also for security and protection but also in terms of emergencies. In late 2023, International Telecommunication Union ITU members met in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates for the World Radio Communication Conference, WRC 23, where they reviewed, updated and made decisions regarding the global allocation of radio frequency. ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-Martin, in her opening remarks, spoke about the importance of harnessing the potential of radio technology and radio services. This is a moment where we have an opportunity to show that we stand together, that we're here to build a better future together. And to do this we have to harness the potential of radio technology and radio services from terrestrial to space-based communications to the fullest. This potential is enormous. Game-changing digital solutions rely on these radio communication services and can accelerate progress in climate action, in education, in hunger, in poverty, and 70% of all the sustainable development goal targets. Mario Manovich, Director of the ITU Radio Communication Bureau, explains why it's important to protect specific frequency bands. Warning and recovery, all these things, we need special services for that. And it's not just the bands used for early warnings and disaster recovery that strengthen resilience. Mario Manovich explains. We always have the amateur bands that we cherish, you know, it has an historic service but also one that today is very useful when there is an emergency, when there is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster. So radio amateurs are always ready to help and sometimes when the infrastructure, communications infrastructure goes down they are the only ones that remain there to help people. Timothy Ellum, President of the International Amateur Radio Union says there's a large community of amateur radio operators ready to lend a hand in emergencies. During times of crisis, disasters, the commercial communications infrastructure often goes down and you have to fall back and other services and the amateur radio operators are perfectly poised to deal with communication in emergent systems. And there's been very many examples I could give you during typhoons or hurricanes where the commercial systems have collapsed and for the short period before you can get other services up and running amateur radio operators are there on the ground, they have their own equipment, they know what antennas and frequencies to use that are allocated to us in order to get file information back to the emergency services. Timothy Ellum, naturally, is one of those ham radio enthusiasts. We have our own equipment, we have access to a large segment of the spectrum where we can, which we can utilise to be the most effective to transfer information back to the relevant bodies. So, you know, I tell people I'm not an engineer by any means but I know enough and I have my own equipment that in times of crisis I have alternate power supplies and power sources to use, I have equipment I can make a simple antenna out of a wire to communicate effectively and that's done only by voice, we also use voice code still and digital applications as well. In her closing remarks at the World Radio Communication Conference Doreen Bogdan Martin spoke about the WRC outcomes for amateur radio. We saw a well supported compromise for the amateur radio community and of course it's always terrific to see how active that community is. These WRC outcomes will help them to continue to experiment and explore with new technologies as well as supporting technical competence development. Protecting radio frequencies can help to save lives and mitigate the impact of disasters worldwide, now and into the future. You've been listening to an ITU podcast for World Radio Day produced and presented by me, Maximilian Jacobson-Gonzalez written by Jennifer McLeod, studio recording by Daniel Waldo and for further information please visit our website at www.itu.int an ITU digital production


evening, welcome to the farming podcast brought to you by Private Property. My name is Mbali Nwako, your host every Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8pm right here on the Private Property Channel. Today we're speaking about agri-associations. So if you've ever started farming or just ever felt if there are any organizations or associations that represent farmers and you've wondered where they are, where they situated, well, I'm glad to inform you that we've got a fantastic young leader who is the CEO of a agri-association based in South Africa and he will tell us about his journey into agriculture and more so what the association does, who would represent the type of farmer it represents and the work that they're doing on the ground. I know farming could be very lonely as and as they say entrepreneurship can also be a very lonely journey. So if you find yourself quite lonely as a farmer, needing advice, needing a network or a group of farmers where you could really rely on, get some industry information, statistics, I'm sure this conversation tonight with Francois would be one that is valuable to you. And as always, please like, share, comment on this episode. Also, engage with us live, ask our guest questions and we're happy to answer live onto the show. If you missed this evening's episode, you could catch it on YouTube channel and the private property channel under the farming playlist, farming podcast playlist and that's where you get all the content that we've had so far. We are going for episode 90 very soon. So it's been so fantastic to see this platform grow and most importantly, see you guys at home engaging and interacting with us here on the farming podcast. Well, let's get right into it and let's introduce Francois Rousseau, who is the CEO of Cy Organization. Francois, how are you doing and thank you so much for joining us. Good evening in Bali and good evening to your viewers. Thank you for having me. Fantastic. It's been a bit of a while since we last spoke, but I'm happy to have you on this particular show. And I'm going to ask you as if I don't know you, but just tell us basically who you are. What does Cy represent and sorry, who does Cy represent? So the type of farmers does Cy represent and with which geographic region if possible. Bali, Cy was created in February 2019 within the context of the United Nations decade of family farming and the United Nations decided to launch this decade because they saw that family farmers were in the best possible positions to eradicate poverty, to address climate change, to stop migration to cities, to create jobs and in order for them to promote the family farmer they created this decade to create awareness and to channel funds to help family farmers get established and provide a platform for them. So our board chairman Dr. Theo D'Arger came back that year and he decided to set up a structure which is very unique, that simply caters only to family farmers and when I talk about a family farmer it means any person that makes a living with their hands in the soil so that it reaches across industries, across borders, it's irrespective of race, age or any other barrier that there is but we also only simply cater to family farmers and it's something that we've labeled as an open economy organization which simply means it's a minimalist form of an organization that concentrates on the most essential focal points and in our case it's family farmers and it's technology and we outsource as many of the related functions as possible to our network partners that have specialized capacity to serve those interests and that has a shared value with us. So as an organization we've really grown these past two years we've grown to about 8,000 members spread equally across South Africa from industries such as parrots to wine farmers to horse owners you know anybody that is seen as a family farm. Yeah and so tell me, what is required from members when they join SAI so what type of commitment or level interaction or engagement are you expecting from farmers once they become part of the association? Bali, I think we were very lucky that we decided to do and then members will follow or join or contribute to SAI so we do not require anything from our members but we are lucky that they contribute monthly to the organization but in order for us to have grown like that we had to have a value proposition to our members you know fighting and promoting the rights, values, ideals and needs of our members and I think we saw that most during COVID overnight during March 2020 when the lockdown was announced farmers were very confused and afraid because how were they going to travel how were they going to get to the market how are they going to get their laborers what is going to happen next and will there be a future for them and you know overnight we created the digital traveling permit that serviced about 90,000 individuals across South Africa within the farming sector and we created a network setup that communicates to each and every one of our members and any family farmer I think that's something that's very unique to SAI is we don't only service our members but we try to service the whole of the family farming community in anything that we do whether it is to provide a digital travel permit whether it is to assist with the interpretation of new legislation or whether it is delivering drought relief aid we do not say you know it's only for SAI members because we are in that lucky position where our members want to contribute to the whole of family farming in South Africa and tell me how do members contribute you know so let's say I just want to become a part of SAI organization as of today or after this conversation I register into my details on to your association what happens next so what am I expecting what could I be expecting from SAI information around markets tech legislation so what happens next after joining the association look we've got a website www.sai.org there's an easy subscribe option there or you can just send us a whatsapp to<PHONE_NUMBER> and after members become you know a part of the organization we will also ask you to save that number on your phone and you will receive daily updates on what the organization is doing you know whether it is introducing you to new technology or inviting you to a webinar on the latest legislation that was released or you know what is really powerful of direct communication to your members is they keep you abreast of what's happening on the ground you know we saw when there were some beneficiaries of land reform in four different provinces we picked up from the communication that you know these guys were were being moved from their farms to to make way for politically connected beneficiaries and we could stop that within two or three days by contacting the minister and letting her know of this you know if we talk about disasters the KZN riots we were immediately uh uh contacted by members in the area and said listen we've got a real issue here are you able to supply us with aid and and we could mobilize our network partners to deliver aid in that area you know uh just recently we had a webinar on agricultural financing you know nobody knows what is going to happen when land bank uh goes under and what are the alternatives and what are we going to do about it and I think it boils down to this one thing that a farmer's job is to farm they do not have time to come home at night and sit down and say yo I've just seen this latest piece of legislation on spatial planning let me crack out open the books and go on google and see what type of opinion I can write and send to government to ensure that it doesn't harm my my farming enterprise farmers just do not have that capacity and that is why an organization is so crucial to to to stand in for those farmers and as a collective and to say look we have a mandate from family farmers across South Africa this is our opinion and this is uh why we do not want you to implement this type of legislation or stop this water pollution in in bumalanga or stop this mining operation in the free state or you know a big thing that's coming up is the food system summit at the end of september and you know it's the UN's agenda to transform the food systems that we do have in order to align more with the sustainable development goals and there's a huge part of this debate that is anti-animal proteins and who is going to push back against that when we when you are up against companies like clover Denon and the like when you are a single farmer making a living from this type of operation and that is why it is important for associations like ours to be there. Wow really shocking information that you're bringing up to the fore here you know spatial planning land grabs the riots that we recently had in july this food summits and just so right I mean everybody's you know trying to go vegan or vegetarian and they're saying the cows are bad for you know climate change etc as much as all these things are happening and maybe people have their own right to their own opinions statistics etc I think we often forget that at the end of the day there are farmers on the ground who make a living from this who make a living by by raising cattle or livestock you know who are employing people who are creating communities and small economies in rural areas, urban areas etc and so what is the stance for side with all of this thing you know what happens where in an organization like you've said you've what reached like 9,000 members I think what happens in in that instance as an as an association where you have different farmers with various objectives you know let's just take the life the meat protein example for instance so there might be cattle farmers in part of association and then there might be I don't know let's say organic farmers you know who really are interested in you know non-pesticides etc so how do you manage all the different viewpoints and opinions of farmers especially when you're trying to lobby or as opposed stand for farmers rights at the end of the day now look Mbali I think it's a very good point how do you get consensus in this atmosphere but I think you know especially with a debate like the food system summit and the animal protein debate I think we can never compromise with with science we can either accept it or we can challenge it with better science and in this case the science is totally wrong we are lucky as an organization to have an exceptional international footprints a footprint with scientists from across the world assisting especially the world farmers organization is doing very good work there but inside as well we've got very good experts here in South Africa on the topic and we've got very good legal minds that also look at these type of topics so we always go to the best science and I think that has always been very beneficial and and it will always be something that that we rely heavily upon so you know we may not agree but it should be objective and not a subject yeah and as much as your association exists to help family farmers what do you say to the naysayers you know who have been from a source one association to the other to the next to the next maybe they're citrus farming they're part of the citrus organization and then by virtue of being a citrus farmer maybe in I don't know in the limbo region and they're part of limbo how dang sorry limbo agri limbo association or whatever the case is so what do you say to the naysayers who've gone through various associations but never have received any form of support for their businesses information sharing like you said and now they're watching you tonight and thinking oh another agri association you know what do you say to the naysayers and how can you convince them to really support your stance of why SAI exists yeah look Bali I think you cannot force someone who is not in a disadvantage position I think our best promotion has always been you know where farmers have been with it back against the wall again you know whether it was with a drought or with legal matters diesel rebates that that gone wrong you know a labor issues and that's why we will never invite ourselves to an area to all nine provinces where we've been farmers has contacted us and says listen there's something hugely wrong with our rates and taxes in the town and nobody wants to listen to us do you guys have a solution for us and I think that if that formula has worked well for us and we have been able to assist farmers from across South Africa with this issue and you know so I think if you haven't been in that position it doesn't help me promising you anything where I'm sitting here but I think it's something that should it come up please feel free to give us a call because it doesn't take a lot to help farmers out you know we are a very small organization but we have been able to tackle some of the biggest issues in this country especially during COVID and especially now in these challenging times yeah you've mentioned a few issues that farmers have experienced you know drought drought on their farms and you know farmers seeking some sort of relief the various riots and I suppose another one which is a very sensitive topic for many farmers irrespective of race age and gender is the farm violence etc over and above these three or four that I've mentioned what are some of the other issues that farmers have experienced on the ground that you have been able to successfully assist farmers with yeah I think you know the the various lockdowns we were very instrumental in opening up the the alcohol ban especially for on behalf of family wine farmers representing tobacco farmers parrot farmers assisting horse owners farm with horses you know I would also say I think one of the biggest other things that that doesn't get a lot of attention is the preservation of small towns you know I think if there's one thing that is as important to family farming operation and that is that the the clear focus of size to keep family farmers on their farms and to keep them profitable it is the preservation of small towns that is why we make very sure to visit a small town every month or every two months to see and to find out what are the challenges to stop this migration from small towns to cities and that is essentially what robs family farmers from from this lifeline that they do have and I think that is something where we have really been able to get in touch with farmers on the ground and find out what it is that is driving them off their farms and a lot of it is profitability I think something that is really going to be the next big disaster is when this whole land bank issues plays itself out and we should be looking at alternatives and they are they are we we've already started these discussions to see how we can start a cooperative bank for farmers run by farmers and so you know in all of these instances especially we've got a lot of legal cases that we are currently running on behalf of communities or family farms where it's we simply cannot afford to lose on these issues otherwise whole communities will be wiped out especially we are currently busy supporting the small-scale fishes on the west coast you know with really a plethora of challenges that they are fighting and yeah so it keeps us busy and you know there's a lot of issues to do to address but yeah I think we're still very optimistic about about the future of farming in South Africa. Yeah so let's talk about that optimism you know you've been a leader for the organization since inception you've experienced a lot you've seen a lot you've engaged with many many farmers and I like the fact that you really don't come from a farming background you have a legal background as well and you're a young leader in the space which is you know predominantly also predominantly made by older farmers or older farmers and we could say maybe 50 plus you know it doesn't really take to run a successful agri-association based on your experience and what you've seen on the ground. Yeah I think you know first of all we've got great leadership inside our organization is run in the majority by family farms they determine the direction and of course we've got a great board chairman in Dr. Theo de Acheru has seen it all and he's been on every continent and visited almost every country that has organized agricultural setup so you know that leadership it's easy to have it clean and especially good clarity of purpose and that is something that that's great there's there's no politics within the organization that keeps us down you know we get to focus on our mandate of keeping family farmers on their farm and I think the biggest thing that that I feel has been a success to us is we don't talk about farms we talk to farms you know they they let us know what are the issues on the ground and we ask them you know in an ideal situation what could the solution look like to you and we find a way to get to that solution and you know I think what really helps us to carry on day through day is just to see the challenges that farmers overcome every day in South Africa you know from the international community I've heard a bunch of times where they just say you know they yet about the solution that we are working with and they say look it's only South African farmers that are able to do that and it's good I think they in the in the future there will be very few things that we can't overcome but also we've got this great thing called technology that is currently assisting us and something it's something we must embrace you know we we we don't have to have to adopt it but we have to know about it know what is out there and I think for our organization the next big step is going to be assisting younger farmers organizations we recently adopted PIXALANPO within our structure and to see all of those young farmers and what are what they're looking at and what the future looks like to them it's very interesting and and it's something that that we must really spend more time and effort on because they are the farmers that are going to farm the future and it's it's really the worth investment what are some of the opportunities that exist I mean from the young from the young farmer members within your network and just the consensus on the ground from farmers what are some of the opportunities that lie within the next 12 to five year 12 months to five years perhaps that you've seen you know just to keep farmers still in the industry and keeping them with hope because yeah every time you talk about the challenges that exist for farmers you know the the the spirit of farmers being resilient etc but just what are some of the opportunities that one could look forward for whether you're a young farmer or have been farming for two or three decades maybe if you could just highlight some of the few challenges that you're seeing in the horizon sorry opportunities that you're seeing in the horizon yeah look I think the biggest issue for for the farming community is profitability and I think the barrier to entry especially for young farmers is going to be you know not they are looking at profitability as something that attracts them to agriculture and we must show them that there is still a profit left within agriculture you know I think some of the industries that really get them excited and and where they can see a future for is especially the cannabis industry you know I see a lot of interest if I see you know how many not only agricultural students but students that are studying something else like engineering and law etc that get involved in it and you know that is a huge market in South Africa which we just not spending enough time on these part-time farmers you know somebody who has a day job but their passion is farming and we must actually try and and and get more get them more exposure another thing that that Sai is currently busy with is the farming of carbon you know carbon capturing and carbon credits we've got some of the greatest grasslands in South Africa but how do we exploit that in capturing carbon and selling it on the international markets to companies like Boeing or or factories where they they do not have they they cannot meet their carbon requirements and have to buy these boxes right back again to do this whole discussion about the food system summit why do you want to get rid of cattle when they are one of the animals that can help us sequestrate more carbon than any other type of solution that we can think of so these are the type of things that that keep us up at night and and that keeps us hungry I think IoT technology we are busy with some crazy projects and we are going to try and launch that with the youth organizations because you know the guys tell us nope we've got the tech but even if we tell you you're not going to believe us so let's put up a form and let's invite the farmers to come and see what we are busy with so yeah I think it's it's going to be a very interesting time sounds exciting I mean just in our conversation I've learned a few things and I just didn't know that you know someone could just this the aspect of carbon yeah I think that's just quite mind-blowing so I think Sai just to round off our conversation you know we are towards the end of the show I just want to find out as well you've mentioned certain challenges, successes, milestones that Sai as an organization has achieved and a few of your future plans as well so if somebody's listening at home and really wants to become part of Sai you know what would be the pull factor that you could maybe suggest for them to be part of Sai and yeah how can it benefit their family far yeah look I think it's about a direct connection with an organization that really wants to ensure that you and your family stay farming on your farm and that you stay embedded in that community because within that community you are delivering a service that nobody else can do and like I mentioned when you talked about the sustainable development goals you know the United Nations and governments has also realized so from Sai's side you know we try to keep a direct connection with our members and if there is an issue that is troubling you we usually assist directly immediately and I think it's just to be part of that community and if there is questions if there is something relating to your property or relating to your market or relating to an opportunity that you're just not sure about you know it's that willingness to pick up the phone and and talk to any one of us in the office and I can assure you within our network we've got a partner that is able to assist you and even if you don't have that problem right now but but you have faced it in the past you will know that a structure like this is necessary but again Bali like I said when your back's not against the wall and you don't need it it's it's it's it you you can't really convince somebody but please even if it if it happens and you're not a member you will always be willing to help so um yeah thank you so much uh now i'm calling you Sai that's how much you embody and represent the organization but thank you so much Francois so for your time this evening um I think please if you could just reiterate your website once again and that um WhatsApp number so that farmers know where to go and just start maybe registering or contacting you um to become part of the organization yeah well we are available on on YouTube you can subscribe to our channel we've got a lot of interesting webinars over there we're on Facebook we're on Twitter Instagram TikTok you can follow us there we've got a very active social media channel then the number on WhatsApp is zero double six zero seven one six zero nine four and uh yes our website address www.sai.org thank you so much uh that was Francois so CEO of Sai organization which is SA AI um you could follow them on all the social media platforms and contact them on that WhatsApp number as he mentioned you know to register as a member and Sai pretty much represents family uh family-run farms you could be an individual with a private company that you've listed which is a farm uh producing any type of commodity Sai is the association to be a part of you could be a third or fourth generation farmer you know farming in a rural area with your family and if you need support and some additional information or just clarity on certain uh laws that we have in South Africa pertaining agriculture um definitely Sai is an association where you could register become a part of and get a lot of information and help needed uh specific to your farm I hope that you've enjoyed our conversation this evening and um yeah if you've missed this episode you could catch it on YouTube on our private property farming podcast playlist and uh I will see you next week Tuesday at 8 p.m with another fantastic guest thank you so much for watching this evening I wish you a great Friday and a fantastic weekend ahead thank you so much take care


You can help a child learn about more and less by putting some small objects into groups. For this activity, you can use any objects you have available, but for my example, I'll be using rocks. So we'll put two rocks in one group, and we'll put three rocks in another group.  We have one, two rocks in this group, and one, two, three rocks in the other group. Then you can ask the child which group has more and the child can point at it. Then you can ask them which group has less. You can change up the groups and ask the child which group has more and which group has less. When a child learns about more and less, it helps them when they learn to add and subtract.


Y'all haven't been watching Brun Fias for years. Then he's somebody to really go back, do a deep dive and the way this man is built up. You just gotta do it. Cause he's built Indy. I mean, he's performing better than a lot of R&B artists. And I think what is he around? Like 10 or 17 million streams. Some crud. Like something he is up there. And we're talking about, you know, pretty legit and Indy as Indy can legit and be leaping. You know, let's say that, right? So that being said, in this clip right here, Brun Fias's manager reveals how he built his fan base with independent touring and ads. Last year, 22 year old R&B singer Brun Fias called a break. What were they offering? Well, I know the highest offer we got was kind of like a quarter of a million dollars in advance. And it was like a $300,000 according budget for album one. I always said it was never about the money. It was always about the time. They began by incorporating Lost Kids, LLC, and investing $30,000 out of their own pockets to record Brun's debut album. They then went on a three-month tour using streaming data to guide the way. Yeah, no, definitely. We need to know about all analytics, all data. There has been several evading steps for me to render. Ty minds the data for those streams to find out exactly where and when a show will sell out. I'm looking at my Spotify and my SoundCloud analytics, like the top 50 market. I'm doing ads based on those top 50 markets. I was spending money there because that's what the data already told me. All right, all right. Now, many of you might have seen this clip. I shared it on my page or reposited it before. It's been nothing new. This is a vice move story. EJ, if you could put the link in the description for folks who want to check out the pool thing when they watch the pod. But what I love about this clip is it's very simple strategy, right? We do shows, we do music, we do ads. All right, very easy, very replicable. Very easy, very replicable. And we've seen this and we've done this before with multiple artists and it works. It's an older school strategy. It's crazy, like they school the ads. It's like old school now, right? Or Instagram ads are just ads in general, but it does work. And the thing about this though, that I love the most is just strategy. And I'm always bring this up. So many people are running ads thinking how cheap can I get ads? Like my clip through, how cheap can I get my conversion? If you're clever, nobody's attaching it to an actual strategy though, right? And the part that takes it away from the strategy is just focusing on those direct numbers. These guys tie in brick. Oh, these are my cities that are like top for my music. We can all see this, we're all aware of this. Like we're like, oh yeah, a lot of people in Atlanta like my music. A lot of people in, I don't know, LA seem to like my music. But then people get afraid. When they start running some ads and they see the ads are more expensive because you're focused on a tighter market. You're not just doing the world wide ads where everything's gonna be cheaper because you got more people to just, you know, into auction with. Cool, but it's more meaningful and worse having more expensive ads if it's tied to something legitimate at the end. If you're gonna do a show there, yeah, it might suck that you're getting higher cost per conversion at that time, but if it's gonna lead to you doing something real that you can't get done when you're doing world wide ads cause I got a hundred fans in this city, five fans in that city, a thousand fans over here. Like it's so spread out, you lose out. And so now I don't know how to just, I can't go do a show in the market where there's only five fans. It's not gonna be worth it. I can't even break even in a lot of these times the goal is just to break even to make them stronger fans, right? But you do this for years and you're touching it, like target the market, touch base with the fans, target the market, touch base with the fans, sell them some merch, all right? Making it a little bit more real. I break even with the show, I make money with the merch, break even with the show, make money with your merch. And that starts to build. Next thing you know, I might make money with the show and then go crazy with the merch, right? You repeat that enough. Things build, you end up with a breath of ice, so when the music's good, right? And other factors out here. But it's really not like, you know, rocket science. But it is having strategy. It doesn't have to be targeting a specific city and planning to do a tour or anything. There's other strategies, but you have to attach it to something because all of these cost per clicks are meaningless when if you're just focused on how cheap can I get my ass and how little money can I spend?  There's no long term and people really in this space we get caught up or we conflate strategy and tactics. And really people are very tight school. Let me take a quick second to say if you're an artist trying to blow your music up or if you're a manager, a music professional in general trying to help an artist blow their music up, I have something that's a game changer for you and it's completely free. As you may know, we've helped multiple artists go from zero to hundreds of thousands of streams. We've helped multiple artists go from hundreds of thousands to millions of streams, chart on Billboard, GoViral, all of that stuff. And we've now made the way we've branded multiple artists and helped them go viral completely free step by step in Brandman Network. All you have to do is check out brandmannetwork.com. You apply, it's completely free, but the thing is, we're not gonna let everybody in forever. So the faster you apply, the better your chance of getting accepted. Brandmannetwork.com, check it out. Back to the video.  And yeah, you could argue that his strategy was, you know, a touring based ass strategy, which anybody could do, but where you target is gonna change that strategy for you exactly, right? Because we don't even know about the other nuances that went to that, right? I'm assuming that if I'm an artist that's, and my day is showing me that I should tour in let's say like DC, Virginia and New York, that's gonna move my strategy differently than the artists are saying they have. I'm big in Houston, Dallas, Austin, or something like that, right? Because I know like culturally, the places are different. So that opens up to different types of activations and partnerships and things like that, right? So I think just even just realizing that the data can be there to be a guy for you is really valuable because I think that so many artists try to fight against the data because they don't wanna feel like the algorithm is controlling that career, right?  I'm gonna go building LA because I wanna do a show at LA, which, you know, like you said, that's a strategy behind it. Go for it, the other thing, you know what I'm saying? But, you know, for most other cases, it's almost like wow, you know what I'm saying? Like you've already kind of done some of the free leg work to see that this is where your money should be spent. Why not go along with that, you know what I'm saying?  It's still digging up completely new. So that's what always got me about that clip was he was one of the first people I'd ever heard be so for the data that way, you know what I'm saying? Especially at a time where a lot of artists at that time were bragging about not looking at analytics and stuff like that, you know what I'm saying? So, but I agree with you, man. I think like this is also a show that ads can be a lot more useful than a lot of artists think they are. And I think because of what you're saying, there's a stigma behind ads where 98% of people's objective is just to get the cheapest cost for quicker conversions possible, right? And so when that's the bar for everybody, it makes it to where it's easy for people to say if this thing works or if this thing doesn't work, right? But ads are a lot more nuanced in that, you know what I'm saying? Like we've had campaigns before where the cost of the ad was expensive and from the artist's perspective, it was a fail. But then once we start explaining certain things, it's like, oh, this makes a lot of sense. It's worked. Like, yeah, man, like you're paying for a more premium of a market, you know what I'm saying?  We get you that point, oh, one, that's what you want. You know what I'm saying? But, you know, if we're gonna build towards some type of a lot of long-term play, then this is just the cost of like doing that. This is the cost of that strategy, right? And so people have to think about it like, there is a cost with each marketing strategy that you implement, right? My ad strategy for an artist's only one to build internationally is gonna be cheaper than my ad strategy for the artist that wants to build domestically, you know what I'm saying? It's just the nature of the game. But I will be wrong to tell either of them that if they have strategy behind them, either of them is right or wrong, right? Like this artist is like, hey, I got this grand vision of popping in Brazil first, and then I'm gonna go over there and I'm gonna do a Latin tour and I'm gonna take that money and come back and then America and I'm gonna invest and blah, blah, blah. His or her strategy isn't any more wrong than the artist is like, hey, I'm gonna pop it on first and then build a buzz in my own city and then I'm gonna set a merge to my vocal shows and I'm gonna take, right? It's the same end result, you know what I'm saying? Different path that you walk, that you kind of walk together. And right there, there's a level of focus which implies strategy. Brazil first, that's still specific, even though Brazil has many cities and states or provinces, whatever they call them, right? And then your hometown, that's something more specific, better specific, more specific, more likely you actually have a strategy, right? Or something closer to it, resembling.   Even then, that stream is on payback. It's a hard thing to do, to literally just run ads to your stream. That should not be your plan. There are moments when you do make your money back because triggers and algorithm starts to move. So your song starts to work beyond the money that you spent. But if that's your plan going into it, the expectation you want to put on the marketer or your manager or whoever, that's a faulty mission. That's a four or five of your play. Well, I always ask them, like, hey man, do you have the time to do that strategy? That's a four or five of your play right there. Yeah. It's definitely gonna be a longer play in many cases. Now, maybe think about something. Well, I was gonna say, you know who this whole conversation makes me think of, but we're literally watching this happen in real time. We're like, oh, recently, Adrien campaign, bro. Like Adrien Milano, one of our clients who's having a lot of success right now in Thailand and the Philippines. And I remember 2020 when he was like, hey, I think I want to take the next couple of years and just focus on the Philippines and Thailand because I think that they'll take me because I make army music and I look the way I do. And at the time, you know, the traditional, you know, what's pink, what's red and green basically? What color is that? Red and green is purple? Oh, that's red, blue. Red and green? Yellow? Maybe? I don't know. I don't know my color, man. I don't roast me. But whatever that color flag is, and we would see those flags be away, it was like, all right, man, your Koffman clip in Thailand is looking suspicious, but he's telling them, hey, but now I'm getting deals in their language and they telling me things, right? And so like he stuck that strategy out for two years and then the song sparked on Spotify, viral 50 for those countries. And now that long-term play has worked out at his yellow. It's yellow. Oh, I'm good, bro. Let's talk about that. Man, I knew, man, art school, bro. I'm a color wheel. I grabbed his arm and I'm like, bro, pay off, man. No, I'm a color. But it's like, that's the same shit, right? Like he, it's like, who are we in the moment to say like, this is wrong or right? I was just glad he had a strategy. You know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, we could always look back on this a year or two from now and say, hey, that was a good idea. That wasn't a good idea because the reality of it is to your point about the tactics versus strategies. That's how I look at it. Tactics are something that could be completed within a couple of days to a couple of months. Strategies take a year. You know what I'm saying? Like, how do I know if my strategy to build my social prominence in Atlanta worked if I don't at least have two years to go by to see how people talk about me? You know what I'm saying?  So like to enact most of those strategies, like you need long term vision and the patients to kind of act it out. So I a lot of times, and even if I disagree with clients' marketing campaigns sometimes, like a lot of times just them having a thought behind or having a why for why they want to do things that enough to convince me. You know what I'm saying? Like, well, maybe they thought about this deeper than I thought about it. Maybe they've seen something. Or at the very least, I know that they have a vision and idea that willing to trust it out long enough to make some assessments off of them. Like you said, music is good and other things there. Typically it works out a long time, you know? And I'm really big on paying to at least the clients I get to talk to, but definitely any artist that talks to me where I'll tell them, hey, you know, there are gonna be things that we do for you where you won't even really see the impact of it for like three or four months, you know what I'm saying? And so in the moment, it's gonna feel like it's not working, but then three or four months later, you're gonna look at them like, damn, no, that should work.  Right, like I literally had a client a couple of weeks ago hit me. Her manager hit me. It was like, yeah, man, you know, in the moment, like the artist wasn't really happy with our campaign, but she was just talking to the other man, they did a great job. Like, I'm looking at my analytics and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I told her I was like, I love to look at what it is. It's three, four months ago when we did the campaign, and I'm saying three months have went by. I'm like, so, so I think that's a lot of times where the turds are for like making strategies, like those kind of concrete strategies. Like you can't really gauge them in the short term, like a strategy or a real strategy takes faith. You know what I'm saying? Like you got to believe.  Man, I got one new follower from Atlanta. He's saying great things. It's the strategy to build me in Atlanta. It's moving, it's moving slow, but it's moving, you know what I'm saying? Man, I'm big on it. It's moving up, man, it's, man, as long as it's uptrending, that's what it's actually, keep it pushing. So, but that was what I liked about the Todd Club, man. It was like, one, just, I think more artists need to be understanding that the data can be a tool for you, you know what I'm saying? And sometimes if you don't feel like you have enough information to make these strategic decisions that Sean and I are talking about, like that's why these different tools exist, to give you as much information as possible to help you make the best, the most calculated decision that you possibly can. And the second thing is like, yeah, bro, I had an ad strategy at the, you know what I'm saying? Like, he talked about one who essentially is doing like the tour building strategy, but it's like, it can get deep, right? Well, I know we got at least like seven, eight different ones.  Shit, it needs to go a certain way. And so it's like, if you're reading this, or not reading this, listen to this, and you've had just skipped the decision of the advertisement, you feel like advertisements don't work for you, you know what I'm saying? Rarely is the canvas the reason that the paintbrush tries, you know what I'm saying? Very rarely is the paintbrush the reason that the paintbrush tries, you know what I'm saying? I'm gonna leave that one there, let that one soak, but I will say the other benefit of like focus that people have to have faith to get to that moment in time when you're focused on a specific thing. I've said this play at times, all right?  Right, that's my song, I just discovered that song on some ad the other day, or some influencer in this market, then you have somebody else, oh snap, you know that song? Like that organic spread is something that's not gonna happen, or marketing in all these random different places, right? So that's been more money marketing here, again, it's more expensive in the short term, but once I had a certain threshold, you start to have an organic effect where all these people in that same market actually know or have had some type of experience. So then they start to spread it and share it, and now they have that powerful experience of experiencing it with other people, and we know that's the lock. We talk about how nostalgia really builds moments up and makes music more important to us than it actually was and even the time. Well, if more of us know this song, we can create these experiences together. If we have experiences together, especially if they're positive, we're gonna wanna replay this song, right? This is how you start to build that and become a part of people's lives as an artist, by being focused in a specific place and being able to take over that location and then find another location, and then next thing you know, you got the whole state, you got the whole country, and maybe, you know, you're that type of artist and that's your goal, you might have the whole world. So it's something to consider, but staying in the touring space, LaRussell.


Hey guys, what's up, welcome to my channel. So for today's video we are going to do yet another boxy charm unboxing. So you guys know I like to do it kind of get ready with me style. So yeah, let's get ready. The first thing that I got in this box is the pharmacy bright on mass. It's a vitamin C clay mass removes impurities and build up while improving your skin's brightness, texture, and tone. It is originally $38 not going to try it on in this video. I really don't have time to but yeah, we got that. So let's go into the next product. This is the cella beauty eyebrow cream. It is $26. And so what's interesting about this is on one side you have the brush, you hear clanking it's because my sleeves have pearls on them and they're hitting my desk. And one side has the brush and then the other you twist and here's the cream. So this is in at the shade taupe. So let's give it a try. My eyebrows are extra furry right now because I was supposed to have eyebrow equipment. Something came up. I couldn't go to it. So my eyebrows are just going to be hairy. It's fine. So it's kind of difficult to get in here. And the cream seems to be kind of hard. The brush is a little more flimsy than I normally like my eyebrow brushes to be. Also a much lighter color than I typically go for my brows. But I mean taupe's a good color to give out. It's pretty universal. So let's see how this guy shapes the brows. I know mama's brows are thick. It's fine. You know actually this color is better than I thought it was going to be. I kind of have caterpillars on my face. So I'm going to go off camera and use concealer to clean this up. Yeah so I don't like the brush on this. It's a little more flimsy and a little bit more thick than I personally prefer because I just really like to be very precise with my eyebrows. The color is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. So I actually do like the color and the cream product I do like. But since I don't like the brush that kind of ruins the purpose of this. But anyways I'll be back. All right so I went ahead and finished my brows. Concealed my face. Set powder on it. Like I said not my best eyebrow day. Kind of catapillary. So this product isn't like that amazing. It didn't do anything too amazing for my eyebrows. But I don't dislike it. Anyways moving on to the big guy in here. This is the Crown Brush Fuego Eyeshadow Palette. It is $29.99. And I'm sure you've seen it enough but lots and lots and lots of warm toned shades in here. I'm gonna kind of speed through this portion here to save time because I really do got places to be right now. Gosh okay by the way I know my hair is like on another level right now. It's it's going through something. I don't know. But um but as far as the eyeshadow palette goes definitely not the best eyeshadow palette that I use. The shimmers in this are pretty good. They're very morphe-esque. A very similar formula in that it's very very creamy almost like wet. Which I personally am not too big of a fan of just because I think it makes the makeup turn to mud at the end of the day. The mattes they blend out fine but they're not very pigmented. I find them to be rather sheer from being honest. And I really did have to build up the mattes because I found that when I was blending it would disappear so you have to keep re-layering. So for the most part this isn't the best quality eyeshadow palette that I've used. I was able to get a look with it. By the way this isn't the first time I've used this palette. I used it one other time before to give it more of a fair chance and yeah I mean it's good and if you don't have a lot of makeup I think you can definitely work with this but I'm just letting you know now there's a lot better palettes out there. Instead of paying $30 for this I would recommend paying like $42 for a soft glam palette like Anastasia way better. Alrighty so next in this box we have the Wonder Beauty On The Lashed Volume and Curl mascara. The price on this guy is $24. I'm not a big mascara person because I do wear lashes so mascara doesn't really matter to me. Let's give it a go. So you get this big kind of curved brush. I'm trying to see if I can get it to focus. No not really. Anyways so keep in mind I literally like don't have lashes but you know this mascara is not too bad. It lengthened my lashes quite a bit. It isn't too volumizing on my lashes. This is kind of just a standard mascara if you ask me. I do like getting mascaras in my boxy charm because that means I don't have to pay for mascara because I don't really care about mascara. Anyways let's go on to the last product in this box. Alrighty so let's move on to the last product in this box. This is by Notecosmetics which I've never heard of before but this is the Luminous Silk Compact Blusher. This is in the shade Desert Rose. It just comes in this black compact and the color of this you guys. Really beautiful. This is going to look amazing on medium skin tones. Not too powdery. I love this blush and it complements this eyeshadow palette perfectly. Use a light hand. It seems to be blending out pretty well. So I mean I like this blush. It went out nice. It blended well. It's pigmented enough for deeper skin tones and it blends out well for fair skin tones. So I'm going to go off camera and finish my look at some lashes, contour, bronzer, highlight, lipstick, all that good stuff and I will be right back for my final box. Alright so this is the completed look that I went for today. Very simple and warm. If you have any questions about what else is on my face it will be linked in the description box but let's go over the box. So the Pharmacy Mask which is originally $38. Haven't given it a try but I do like getting skincare products in my boxy terms. This is cool. The Crown Brush Fuego Eyeshadow Collection $29.99. Honestly I don't think it's very good at all. I don't even think it's worth $30 if I'm being honest. The color selection is very popular right now with the warm tones but it's just not very good quality. If you want to see the other look I did with it. It's in my last video which is my Nordstrom Anniversary Charlotte Tilbury review. I did do more of an orangey look. This is more of a warmer brown look. This palette, the quality isn't good enough to do intricate looks with. You can get really pretty blown out kind of single color look which is what I also did with the last look I did but the quality in this isn't good for separation of the colors like you kind of need to slap it on your eye to get a good look. So this isn't very good but I mean you're paying $21 for the box so I'm not going to complain too hard about it. The Wonder Beauty Unlashed Volume and Curl Mascara which is $24. Pretty good. I'm not mad at it. I always like getting mascaras in my box each arm so yeah I'm just happy to get a mascara this month. The No Cosmetics Luminous Silk Compact Blush in the shade Desert Rose. This is originally $11.99. Definitely worth about $11.99. Really pretty color. Really great for a lot of different skin tones. Compliments the palette well. Blend it out very good. I really do like this blush. I've been on such a blush kick. I love blushes. And finally the Cella Beauty Eyebrow Cream which is $26. I personally don't think this is worth $26. The cream is pretty good. I think they did a good job as far as color goes to be as universal as possible. I don't like the brush on it which is half of the concept. It's just too loose. I'm stuck with my ABH brush and it's a little awkward getting the cream because it's in such a tiny tube but I'm not mad at it. I was actually very excited to try it so that's what boxy charms all about. Even if you don't like it it gives you a chance to try a bunch of different things and I was so happy to try this out. So overall as every month I would say this is worth $21. It is definitely not as good as last month's box. Last month's box was freaking amazing. This one didn't have that many good brands if I'm being honest. Usually there's at least one really good brand in here. Not too crazy about any of the brands in here. So it was worth $21 but not my favorite box if I'm being honest. Nothing really wowed me and there wasn't any super cool brand. So that is my review of boxy charm this month. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. Like I said even though my review was kind of negative on this month's box I still think it's worth the money and this month was more of a miss but most months are super hits. So with that being said I will see you guys later. I hope you guys enjoyed this video remember to subscribe to my channel and have a great day. Bye!