446: AI, Massive Job Cuts, The Recession And How To Protect Yourself

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You’re listening to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast, the place where I bring on successful bootstrap business owners and delve deeply into the strategies they use to grow their businesses. Today, I’m doing a solo episode to talk about my thoughts on the current economy, what’s happening with jobs, artificial intelligence, and an important project that I’m working on, which will change your life and your way of thinking. Enjoy the show. But before we begin, I want to let you know that tickets for the 2023 Seller Summit are now on sale over at sellersummit.com. It is the conference that I hold every year.

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that specifically targets e-commerce entrepreneurs selling physical products online. And you all probably know me well enough by now to know that my event has zero fluff. Every speaker I invite is deep in the trenches of their e-commerce business and not high-level guys who are overseeing their companies at 50,000 feet. Every year, we cut off ticket sales around 200 people, and we all eat together and we hang out together every single night. I love smaller events and tickets always sell out far in advance. Now, if you are an e-commerce entrepreneur making over 250K,

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or $1 million per year. We also offer a special mastermind experience where we break up into small groups, lock ourselves in a room, cater in lunch, and help each other with our businesses. Right now, the mastermind tickets are almost sold out. The Seller Summit is going to be held in Fort Lauderdale, from May 23rd to May 25th. And for more information, go to SellersSummit.com. That’s S-E-L-L-E-R-S-S-U-M-M-I-T.com. I also want to thank Postscript for sponsoring this episode.

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Postscript is my SMS or text messaging provider that I use for ecommerce and it’s crushing it for me. I never thought that people would want marketing text messages, but it works. In fact, my tiny SMS list is performing on par with my email list, which is easily 10x bigger. Postscript specializes in text message marketing for ecommerce and you can second meet your audience just like email. It’s an inexpensive solution, converts like crazy, and you can try it for free over at postscript.io slash d.

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That’s P-O-S-T-S-U-I-P-T dot I-O slash Steve. And then finally, I wanted to mention my other podcast that I run with my partner, Tony. And unlike this one, where I interview successful entrepreneurs in e-commerce, the Profitable Audience podcast covers all things related to content creation and building an audience. No topic is off the table and we tell it like how it is in a run and entertaining way. So be sure to check out the Profitable Audience podcast on your favorite podcast app. Now onto the show.

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Welcome to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast. Today I’m doing a solo episode to tell you my thoughts about the economy and an important project that I’m working on that could change your life and your way of thinking. Now you’ve all probably been following the news. People are losing their jobs left and right, right now. And in the midst of mass layoffs from Google, Apple, Amazon, and all these top companies around the world, people have come to the abrupt realization that their day jobs simply are not safe. Here’s a sad story.

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Couple weeks ago, a friend and I had a long conversation about the skyrocketing costs of going to college, and his daughter just started going to college in the fall, and he was barely going to be able to scrape by with the large quarterly tuition payments. And then bam, one morning, he showed up to work and noticed that the door to his office was locked, and then he was promptly escorted out of the building. His steady paycheck instantly vanished just like that, and he went from earning a healthy salary with benefits

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to zero income. Now this guy is very smart and any company would be lucky to have him but because there were recently tens of thousands of people laid off in my area, it’s probably going to be tough to find another job right this second. Anyway, right now he’s debating whether to tell his daughter or even consider pulling her out of school and it’s an extremely difficult situation. Now the reality of any day job is that you can be released at any time.

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and you are at the mercy of your boss when it comes time to get evaluated for raises and bonuses. I remember when I was working, I was actually getting raises of between 2 and 4%. Now, I don’t know if you’ve been following all the news with ChatGPT and artificial intelligence, but I’ve been following everything very closely. There are a flood of apps out there available right now that can help you write posts, create videos, create audio, create Excel spreadsheets, create appointments,

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write code, design hardware, everything. And I can almost guarantee you that millions of jobs will be lost in the next two or three years. And to be honest, I’m actually even considering letting go of a couple of writers on my team because ChatGPT is that good. I was having a conversation with an old coworker the other day who I used to design hardware with. And he had a project and he decided to give ChatGPT a try to create computer hardware.

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We’re not talking about software here, we’re talking about hardware. And within minutes, AI was able to code a small block that he needed for his design that was bug-free and worked right out of the box. So literally no job is safe. Not even if you’re a tech worker. If ChatGPT can write software and design hardware, the sky is the limit. And this is just the beginning of the technology. Now I was just looking up some statistics the other day, and here’s what I found.

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Not only are your jobs not safe or guaranteed, but 84 % of millennials have experienced burnout at their jobs. 50 % of employees consider themselves disengaged from their work. And almost half of Americans fear being laid off this year. Now, if these stats scare you, then you are not alone. Most people, including myself, have been led to believe that entrepreneurship is only for the chosen few. People with connections,

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money, or creative people. But that is simply not the case. And you probably don’t believe me right at this point if you’re not running a business, but all it takes is a dream and the motivation to get off your butt. In fact, the best way for me to prove this to you is to tell you a story, my story. Now the year was 2007, and my wife and I, were victims of a dreaded condition known as complacency. Now if you’ve never heard of this terrible condition before,

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It is a disease that leads to spending 10 hours a day at a job that you don’t particularly like. It is an illness that stops you from pursuing your personal goals and aspirations because you can never find the time. It is a debilitating condition that causes you to trudge through each day, doing the daily grind as life quickly passes you by. Back in 2007, my wife and I used to get up early in the morning, go to work, eat dinner, sleep, and then wake up the next day to repeat the cycle.

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Days quickly fade into weeks, weeks dissolved into months, and months soon became years of the exact same routine. And even though we both made a pretty good salary from our day jobs, we were coasting our way through life like lifeless zombies. We weren’t challenging ourselves, we weren’t trying new things, and we stayed within our comfort zone when making important decisions. We basically had no sense of purpose, and we were unmotivated and stagnant. Now, it sounds harsh, but my wife and I, were just

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kind of going through the motions and living a pretty conventional life. Now, even though we had a good amount of free time, we always ended up wasting it on empty activities. So, for example, our day back then consisted of working from 9 to 6.30 p.m., eating dinner, and then watching television until it time to go to bed. And days and weeks went by quickly, and we didn’t really have anything to show for it. And even when I try really hard today, I’m actually unable to recall any specific memories

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during that period of my life. In fact, the only thing I remember is that I watched a hell of a lot of TV and that my wife was terribly unhappy with her day job. In fact, the only memory that stands out in my mind was how much she dreaded having to go to work each and every day and every morning she would kiss me goodbye and then say, okay, honey, I’m off to the hell hole. I call my job now. Now it was particularly painful for me because I had to watch her drag herself out of bed and witness her suffer every single.

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Now, even though she changed companies several times during her career, she never felt fulfilled working at any of her jobs. And what’s ironic is that my wife and I often talked about achieving financial freedom and being our own boss, but we never got around to it. We talked about starting a side hustle on many occasions, but we never took any action until this happened. My wife became pregnant. Now, I still don’t fully comprehend how peeing on a stick could stir up so many emotions.

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But my wife and I became excited and terrified at the same time. And for one thing, I got a sudden injection of motivation and enthusiasm. All of a sudden, I felt like I needed to get off my butt and become a better person. I felt like I needed to be more responsible and take charge of my life. I felt like I needed to get my act together and provide for my family. Now, as millions of thoughts swirled through my head, my primary concern became financial security and we needed a bigger house. We needed to live in a better school district.

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We needed to start a college education fund. We needed an emergency fund so large that we could survive even if I lost my job or I got laid off. As for my wife, she wanted to quit her job so she could stay at home and take care of our kid full time. She didn’t want to miss a single minute of her baby’s childhood. And the only problem was that with the additional expense of having a child, she didn’t want to place a major crimp on our lifestyle or our finances. As a result, we needed to find another way to make money and replace her six figure salary.

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And hence our online store, Bumblebee Linens, was born. Now even though things started out slowly, our store managed to replace my wife’s salary of $100,000 within one year. And having our own business allowed her to stay at home and take care of our child while running our store at the same time. And the best part, with my wife, didn’t have to put in nearly as many hours as her day job to make significantly more money, and she was much happier too. And today, my wife and I run two

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million dollar businesses working about 20 hours a week with plenty of time for family and friends. I coach my kids basketball and volleyball teams and help with homework and my wife volunteers at my kids schools. And in fact, my wife ran the entrepreneurship program for my daughter’s school last year. Now looking back, we started Bumble Bee Linens for only $630. We didn’t know anything about e-commerce. We didn’t know anything about business. And we didn’t know anything about websites. And it’s taken me about three years.

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but I documented my entire journey, all my strategies, philosophies, everything into my book called The Family First Entrepreneur. How to achieve financial freedom without sacrificing what matters most. Now, what sets apart my book and my philosophies from all the other business books you’ve probably seen and read? Well, first off, this is a book about entrepreneurship, but not the kind that they tell you about in business school or that you often hear about online. Now, if you can relate to my wife and I story,

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You probably don’t seek to become world famous or ridiculously rich. You might not say no to these things, but we probably have similar priorities. You basically want a good life and the freedom to enjoy it. But here’s the problem with 99 % of the business and entrepreneurship advice out there. They all preach that you need to work 80 hours a week and hustle your butt off to get ahead. In fact, a popular saying is that entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.

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While I’m calling BS on this, if you follow this advice, then you’ll end up sacrificing your time and your freedom for the promises of riches, work yourself to the bone, and lose what precious time you had to spend with your loved ones. Now on my podcast, which I’ve run since 2014, I’ve interviewed over 450 successful entrepreneurs who are just killing it with their multi-million dollar businesses. But what you don’t hear about publicly when I hit the stop record button is that they don’t see their family much.

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or that they’re totally burned out or stressed out. You don’t hear about the huge sacrifices that they had to make in order to get there. Now the other day, Noah Kagan interviewed a billionaire on his YouTube channel. And what was that billionaire’s biggest regret? It’s that his first business cost him his wife. They got a divorce because he put his business first. And if he had to do it all over again, he changed that chapter of his life. Here’s the thing. Once you understand how to make money,

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You can do it anytime you want, which will allow you to prioritize other things, like your loved ones and your family. Now in my book, I’ll share with you an alternative to the hustle culture nonsense we so often hear about in relation to achieving financial success. Because you can, in fact, achieve financial success without being a stranger to your kids. You can make good money and have the freedom to enjoy it, and you definitely don’t have to work 80 hours a week and be a slave to your business just to make it all work.

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Now here’s the thing that I’ve noticed about online gurus and entrepreneurial advice. It is mostly given by single men or women who only have to take care of themselves. They got nothing else to worry about. But a lot of people have families and other responsibilities. So if you’re tired of hearing from a bunch of single men or women or 20-something kids who drive fancy cars and brag about how hard they work or how much they make, I will give you a different perspective.

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from a father who makes both business and family work. Now my book is available for pre-order right now anywhere you can buy a book. Or if you want to learn more about the book, you can go to thefamilyfirstentrepreneur.com. Now this book doesn’t come out until May, but I’m including a bunch of free bonuses that you can access immediately that will help you create your own side hustle right away. So first off, I’m going to be giving a special six week family first side hustle challenge

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or I will personally help you make your first $1,000 online. And as part of this six-week challenge, I will be giving live presentations and answering your questions in a private Facebook group for six weeks on how to achieve financial freedom with a family-first side hustle. By the end of this challenge, you will learn how to evaluate your side hustle options, how to create a profitable offer, product, or service to sell on the side, how to put up your own website on a budget, how to make your first $1,000 online,

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and how to free up your schedule so you can actually spend more time with your loved ones. I’m also giving you two full-blown workshops that will teach you how to make money with two side hustles that literally cost you only $3 to start. Now, I call these business models gateway drugs because they will allow you to make money on the side that will eventually lead you to a much bigger business. And it’s all about baby steps here. Okay, so the first workshop is my three-day print-on-demand workshop. If you are interested,

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inserting a profitable and flexible side hustle without holding inventory, then Print On Demand is the perfect solution for you. Print On Demand is where you sell products that are only printed or produced after you’ve received an order. And in this workshop, we will cover all the essential steps and techniques needed to successfully launch your own Print On Demand shop, from product sourcing and design to marketing and fulfillment. Now, the beauty of Print On Demand is that you can get started for very little money. And this workshop will include step-by-step instructions

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on how to launch your own print-on-demand website for just $3 a month. And by the end of the workshop, you will have a great-looking website with your own domain. You will learn how to create your own print-on-demand products for free, understand how to convert sales, and how to generate traffic. The second workshop is my two-day workshop on how to make passive income with content. Now, my blog over at mywifequarterjob.com makes over a million dollars per year. My YouTube channel makes over $300,000 per year.

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And this podcast that you guys are listening to right now makes over 100k per year. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to make passive income with content, whether it be blogging, YouTube or podcasting, by selling digital products, memberships, coaching, affiliate marketing, advertising and more. By the end of this workshop, you will have a website and a strategy for generating passive income with the content of your choice. You will have a great looking website with your own domain. You will learn how to create content

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and how to monetize your content. And finally, I’m taking this show on the road and we’ll be throwing book parties across the US depending on where you live based on the book pre-order form entries. I would love to meet all of you in person and maybe even sign a book or two. Once you fill out the pre-order form and sign up for my email list, I will let you know where the parties will be and when. You will also be automatically entered into a special pre-launch giveaway where I’ll be giving away free course memberships, one-on-one consults,

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tickets to my e-commerce conference and more. I will also be doing a book signing at my annual e-commerce conference called the Seller Summit. Now the ticket prices are actually going up next week, so if you want to come and hang out in person, grab your ticket right now over at sellersummit.com. Anyway, if you know me, and if you listen to my podcast or follow me for any length of time, you know that I always pay it forward. And for this book, The Family First Entrepreneur, it is not going to be any different.

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Pre-order the book now over at thefamilyfirstentrepreneur.com. Hope you enjoyed that episode. And I was pretty serious. Because of AI and the economy, I think there are going to be a lot more jobs lost in the coming years, and everyone should have a backup plan or a side hustle. And my book will help you get started. For more information about this episode, go to mywebquitterjob.com slash episode 446. And once again, I want to remind you that my annual e-commerce conference will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on May 23rd to the 25th.

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I really want to hang out with you guys in person, so let’s meet up. Go to SellersSummit.com. That’s S-E-L-L-E-R-S-S-U-M-M-I-T.com. I also want to thank Postscript, which is my SMS marketing platform of choice for ecommerce. With a few clicks of a button, you can easily segment and send targeted text messages to your client base. SMS is the next big own marketing platform, and you can sign up for free over at postscript.io slash Steve. That’s P-O-S-T-S-E-R-I-P-T dot I-O slash Steve.

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Now I talk about how I these tools on my blog, and if you are interested in starting your own ecommerce store, head on over to MyWifeCooderJob.com and sign up for my free 6-day mini course. Just type in your email and send in the course right away. Thanks for listening.