Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Real American Business News: Tips for how Business's Should Navigate Tariffs - ESPN's Big Move Shifts Changing Media Landscape - The $97 Billion Industry Hiding in Plain Site

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

SUMMARYIn this episode of Right About Now, Ryan Alford and co-host Chris Hansen explore the latest headlines in business and economics—from rising tariffs and stock market fluctuations to the evolving world of cryptocurrency. They’re joined by bestselling author and corporate strategist Arjan Singh, who shares expert insights on:How tariffs are reshaping global business dynamicsThe future of U.S. manufacturing and supply chainsEmerging trends in digital advertising and consumer behaviorThe role of brain-computer interfaces and AI in strategic planningWhy proactive, adaptive business strategies are more critical than everIf you're a founder, executive, or strategist navigating an uncertain business landscape, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.📚 Featured Book: Competitive Success: Building Winning Strategies for a Changing Corporate World by Arjan Singh 🔗 Order on Amazon🎧 Additional Listening:Harvard Business Review Interview – "Why You Need to Stress-Test Your Strategies"The Money Show Book Review – Competitive SuccessSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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What's up guys? Welcome to Write About Now here on Friday, May 16th. It is your weekly business news with Ryan and Chris Hansen down in Miami. What's up, Chris? What's up, Brian? How are you, bro? I'm good. Taking the BS out of business, one story at a time.

You know, you can pay attention, you know, make yourself go crazy on CNN or Fox all week. Or you just come to write about now and we break it down to what you really need to care about. You know, like no right, no left, just straight facts. The business cycle has been heavily related to the administration this week, given all of the tariff talk. We've been talking about it. And finally, some actions happen. All the tariffs, this happened after our episode last week. Tariffs are on hold.

Deals are being had. And I think it's a good sign, Chris. We're moving the right direction. I'm happy to hear it. I'm happy that if you look at the numbers, it's really a win for a. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Stock market's been rocking and rolling.

It likes the news. We're already surpassed where the downturn was when the terror stuff started, you know, tanking the market a few weeks ago. I think we've met back to the level and gone over and above it. And what really matters is XRP is up on the old crypto. Yeah. What's the percentage you said it was up again? It's up 20% the last week.

Yeah, I think everything for the most part, it's like 20, at least 15% up, 20% most fit between all the big players. So I still think it's a great time to invest in the market. There's a lot of runway to go based on a lot of the crypto experts and their predictions. You know, it should run hopefully through the end of 25, peaking out end of 25, 26. It's so early people. Pump, pump, pump. Yeah. I would say it's early because it's still not all over the news and Twitter.

Yeah. You know, give it another month or so. And then I think every, you know, your dad's going to ask you how to download Coinbase and invest probably. Yeah, exactly. That's when you know when everybody starts asking about it. Yeah. What they call it Main Street, the Main Street investors start talking about it again. and it starts pumping in the news.

That's when you know you're too late. I'm just kidding. Yeah, literally. I mean, it is. It really is. That's why you've got to come to this show. We're giving it on the forefront of where you need to go. But we like where the numbers are headed.

And, you know, we're doing a little special on the show now. We're going to bring in specialists to talk and give segments on specific topics. That's why we went through. straight to the source to talk about tariffs. What is the impact of the pause? How should business be thinking about it? Because we've taken the BS out of business. It ain't about the headlines. It's about how you should re-reacting as a business. That's when we went to Arjun Singh. He is a best-selling author. And let's get to that segment right here. Hey guys, a little special segment here on Right About Now, our weekly business news. We are trying to take things topical for you

guys. And look, we're always cutting through the BS. We're trying to get down to what matters for business today, right about now. That's why we've gone right to the source. He is the author of competitive success, winning strategies with corporate war games. It's an Amazon bestseller Forbes top 10 book, business book of 2024. It is, Arjun Singh. What's up, Arjun. Are you doing, Ryan? Good to see you. Good to see you, man. Appreciate you jumping in on this segment on tariffs. I, you know, my eyes kind of go, start glossing over. I'm like, tariff, tariff, tariff, tariff, tariff, tariff down, all these things. And I can't keep up with it. So I'm glad we can bring you on to tell us what we need to be thinking about. What's the most latest news? Let's maybe break down

the headlines of exactly what's happened in the last week. And then we'll key in on some specific opportunities, challenges, threats for business. Great. You know, I think you nailed it, right? There's a lot of stuff that's going on in terms of the tariffs. There's been an agreement between the U.S. and China, in principle, to have, you know, tariff coming down. The U.K. has been talking to the U.S. as well.

India is also falling in there. So one by one, what's interesting is all the countries are now open to a dialogue. After really playing a little bit of a game of chicken to kind of figure out whether it's real or not. So it gets coming now. Now, how quickly it gets resolved? We don't know. No one knows. And that's where you have to, as a business owner, prepare for the future.

And the whole notion is you hope for the best, but you prepare for the worst. And there's a few principles to kind of think about as you start doing that. Yeah, Arjun, I think you nailed it. Prepare for the worst. Hope is not a strategy. Hope is not a strategy. I wish I had created that saying, but it's so true. I think about it all the time because some people will just kind of hope, oh, it'll all work out.

Well, it might, but you need to prepare. And that's what we're trying to do, trying to make action items here from the show. I mean, let me ask you this, Sergeant, in your opinion and understanding this probably at a deeper level than me and probably even a lot of our listeners, ultimately, who we, I think we've said on the show, tariff wars aren't good for anyone. It's a strategy, like it, love it or hate it by the current administration. It's a strategy that's proving to be somewhat effective. We'll see where it lands. The jury is out on all of that for the long haul. But again, you can't argue that it's brought people to table.

But ultimately, in that game of chicken, is the U.S. in a power position? You know what the U.S. is. If you look at the global economy, I mean, the U.S. is the largest economy in the world. It has the largest influence in so many different business spaces, right? So you're talking about oil and gas, aviation, technology, right? It is the leader there. And for countries to ignore the United States, it's a death wish for them. So they do have to negotiate.

The question is how quickly are they looking to get a deal? I mean, there's already evidence that's coming out that, you know, shipping from China has been in the decline the last few weeks. Production as well. There's been a lot of cover-ups in terms of, you know, how idle of the actual production facility is this. And China's not the only one. There's other players that have a lot at stake there. So what the United States decides has a significant impact on the global economy. It seems like, you know, for better or worse, it's really trying to keep all the political slant out of this to keep it really like just pointed towards the impact.

It does peripherally feel from an independent, you know, I think if you watch my show, you can tell Rydien at times on policy, but as an independent, you know, I think if you watch my show, you can tell Rialin at times on policy, but as an independent, It has felt the last four years, five years, I mean, that America, I'm not saying we need to be arrogant. We don't need to be arrogant, but we do need to be acknowledged for our place in the global economy. And at times it feels like we've sort of, you know, we're just little America ready to play nice, you know. And that's great. But I do like that it feels like we're trying to take our proper seat in the pecking order. Yeah. You know, I think the word is acknowledged our place, right? And also to be able to be able to have the influence that we have so far, right? Yeah. You know, the United States has a huge influence in the global economy. It's been in a certain structure so far. And, you know, just to be able to push that agenda forward is something that the administration is doing. Ultimately, you know, depending on where it nets out, it's going to have.

a huge impact on the country. I mean, if you look at the news from last night, right, with the high-level trip to the Middle East, there's already trillions. And not even with a B, we're talking with a T, right? Trillions of dollars of implications to U.S. businesses in terms of aviation, defense contracts, and other pledges that Saudi Arabia and some of the other countries have done. And, you know, that in my mind is just the starting point. I think it's only going to accelerate from this point onwards, because as the world's start seeing the deals that the U.S. is doing with China, with India, with the Middle East, with the U.K. I mean, others are going to start following.

Yeah. I mean, it is a little bit of a breath of fresh year that we are, you know, some people don't like the going at government like business, but it is business. I mean, isn't it, Arjun, I mean, isn't, this is the business at the highest level? It is. And, you know, like, it's interesting. Like, and there's certain countries that actually view it that way, Right. So I've done a lot of work in Singapore. I've done work in Dubai as well. You go talk to the government there. It's like walking into a business. You know, the Singaporean government offices, they look like a world-class business. They sit down, they negotiate. They strike a deal and then they move on, right? And I think we can take a lot of cues from like these different countries out there. Yeah, it is exactly like a business. And it should be run like that. Yeah. All right. Let's talk action. How should businesses be preparing? We've got a 90-day kind of, whatever you want to call it, pause, set it to the side. Let's all be nice. Let's figure it out for the long term. I want to talk about you, you know, I know, I know you probably don't like to predict, but I mean, I ask you to predict in a minute. But for now, what should businesses be doing with what's happening? You know, I think any prudent business at this point, recognizing you've got about 90 days to figure or less to figure this out, you should be doing war gaming, which is what my book's about.

You know, so you basically role play different stakeholders in the marketplace. You do scenario planning as well. So I'll give you examples, right? So, you know, for a lot of companies and businesses that are doing products, right, you've got supply chains. You've got to think about supply chains, realignment. like where do you start sourcing products from? Apple has already been proactive and they're shifting all their production

of iPhones from China to India, recognizing what's going on. You know, I think that's step one is to really look at your operations and look at where you may be the most exposed and build a plan B, a plan C, a plan B, right? So what if this happens? You know, and work through scenarios such as like,

hey, what if our supply chains are suddenly, you know, impacted by 100% tax? tariffs or more, what do we do? Where do we kind of move our production to? How quickly can we can we do that, right? And then it kind of gets into other issues. You've got pricing and profit margin erosion, right? So there's an element that's there. You know, what if there are retaliatory tariffs or export challenges that you have? And then ultimately, you know, that will cascade down into workforce. Like, how does this affect, you know, your workforce? And I think one of the big other issues to really think about is, okay, what would you do from a cost pass-through perspective,

right? So if you do end up with tariffs on your production, how do you pass those costs to your customers or do you not? And do you blame the tariffs or not? You know, there's already been some backlash. I think Amazon had some plans and others as well, like talking about like a tariff fee as well, right? So I think there's a multitude of dimensions to explore for businesses. I think this is the time to do it. You know, look at look at those varieties that are there, war game. this situation and build a plan for situations that may occur, which we don't know if they will or not. Yeah. But me, if you're, if you're, if you're someone's listening, Arjun, and maybe they don't sell product and it's not as obvious of a, all these tariffs impact me or don't, I'm not

worried about tariffs. Like, you know, tell me, tell me how what you would tell that. business person about how they should be thinking about this or should they be so flippant that it's not going to impact them? Oh, you know what? Even if you're if you're not directly impacted by the tariffs, you will be indirectly. And that's the part to really, really think about. Now, you know, the tariffs could actually be a positive for a lot of businesses as well, right? So it's not all negative as well. So when this realignment happens, it may open up opportunities for exporting to certain certain areas, certain components might become a lot cheaper. You know, so a lot of companies, if you're getting components from your local

distributors, they might be getting it from somewhere else, right? So it has indirect effects on there, and that's part of the whole process of understanding what that would look like, right? So what's your best case? What's your worst case? What's your base case? It's going to have an effect. And some of it, actually, I think, will be positive for everyone. Do you think this will bring back, manufacturing? to the U.S. ultimately. Can that genie go back in the bottle?

You know, I think it will. But I think it's going to be in a very different form to what manufacturing was previously, right? So low value manufacturing in the last few decades went offshore, right? Because then the U.S. focused on other things. I think there'll be an element of a lot more meat in the U.S.A. I think. But the way that it's going to be done is going to be different. You know, it may be automated.

there may be a huge element of technology and AI. And, you know, that's an area where the U.S. is at the forefront. U.S. technology is unsurpassed by anyone, right? And so when you start looking at automated manufacturing, right? So, you know, in a traditional factory, it's like 40 years ago. If you had to produce something and you needed 100 workers, you may only need five now. But it's five American jobs in conjunction with technology. And guess what?

That technology is coming from the U.S. as well. And, you know, so it kind of cascades down into not only just, one operation, but a multitude of these operations. I love it. Great insight there, especially on the automation and AI. That is having a tremendous impact. And anyone that's not keeping their eyes wide open with that has got their head in the sand. Another story for another day.

But talk to me as we finish up your Arjun, like about predictions. You know, or what are the tea leaves telling you how this will play out? as best you know how. No one's going to go back and play your video and go, oh, you didn't know, some unforeseen thing. But I know how the product inostication game works. That it worked for me and against me. But talk to me about how you see this playing out.

You know, if the stock market from yesterday and there before is any indication, right, I think there's going to be bright times ahead. One scenario is that the U.S. starts having these tariff negotiations very quickly and then they're concluded very quickly. So you'll start seeing like rebalancing in terms of trade and in those different pieces and you'll start having like stability very, very quickly. I think that's one kind of area. I think the other one is that it may drag on with certain countries a little bit longer

than others. And that's going to be a rebalancing in terms of the United States dealing with those countries or not, right? But I think at the end of the day, you know, if you look at the bargaining chips, they're really on the United States side, right? in terms of resources, capital, access to the United States market, right? All those different pieces. For any country to ignore that, it's going to be a huge, huge issue there, right?

So I think it's a case of like whether it gets quickly resolved or a little bit, it drags on for a little bit longer. That's the little bit of an unknown. But I do see these things settling down in the next couple of months. I'm going to ask you a question that we'll strike from the record. and not air if it's out of your knowledge base because it's completely random, but it just made me think of it because thinking about China and stuff.

Yeah. What's going to happen with TikTok? Any perspective there? Oh, in the United States? I mean, TikTok has very valuable technology, right? So if you look at... But ultimately they're going to have to sell. Is that going to have to have...

I mean, he's kind of drawn the line and saying they've extended it a couple times. It's like, you know. Yeah. I think that's one thing. like both parties in the United States agree on that the Chinese control has to go away. So to survive in the United States, they're going to have to sell. Now, what form it takes, you know, with different people trying to take it on, Amazon was

interested in others as well. I mean, they've got a valuable algorithm that's very sticky with consumers. If they want to feed them to operate in the United States, they will have to sell. Yeah. I think you're right. I don't think Donald's going to back off that ultimately. And I don't think we should, you know. and it's too much data.

But they do have a great product. That algorithm is crazy for knowing what we're thinking. We want to watch it all times. I have to stay away from that rabbit hole sometimes. Arjun, he is the author of competitive success, winning strategies with corporate war games. You did go check that out. You can buy that on Amazon.

Is that right, Arjun? That's right. Where else can people keep up with everything that you're doing, learn more about you, et cetera? Just check me out on LinkedIn. It's very easy to find. Just search for Arjunsing. You'll find there.

Follow me. Add me on LinkedIn. And that's where you'll see a lot of my updates there. Great. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Ryan, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Hey, guys, we're keeping it real with you.

Real, Raw. Always to BS out of the business here. Thanks to Arjun for coming on the show. We really prayed Arjun for coming on, breaking down the terrace, what it means for business, how you should be responding. And look, like we said, hope is not a strategy. You need to be game planning different scenarios because it will have an impact.

But we like where it's head of the news is positive, which is what we like. Chris, we're keeping it. Hey, we're going to be real about it. We're not going to go down in the dumps on every single story because most of this is positive news. We've been telling you to hold on and stop watching the day trades every single, every single day article insight that's, oh, doom and gloom. and slanted. But a few announcements on the marketing and digital front from the digital advertisers,

new fronts, which is essentially where people align their budgets to like available media. Like they did this in newspaper a long time ago. It's an old thing, but basically where digital media platforms pitch new content and ad tech to platforms and also where they'll get commitments on budgets from some of the bigger brands. Some of the highlights, Yahoo Sports, announced a network with Rich Climmon to anchor a push into premium sports storytelling, emphasizing a combination of original video content with automated ad buying tools. You're going to start to see this, the proliferation of automation speed, creative, all these things are changing fast, ability to have personalized content within the ads to make it change fast, to get high-level impressions.

personalized, which is new. Snap has new ad tools. Sponsored snaps in chat, promoted places, and AI smart campaigns. And it's interesting when they said this, Chris, I thought about this,

how easy it would be. And I thought this idea of thinking, like, for the Radcast Network. I'm always thinking, hey, we're a publisher too. So we're like thinking, how can we help our advertisers

and help ourselves? We're getting impressions, how we do it. You know, like when you post a story, obviously you could post a story where it's you know you're not promoting a product right you know sponsored story where content but what if just that vertical screen the lower third had an ad on it you know it's your content chris working out but the lower third was like a dynamic ad you know that's coming and if it's not instagram i just gave you a billion dollar idea but you know sponsored

stories that aren't like the entire story it's still your content, but they're kind of, they're getting a little eye candy, getting some awareness on there. I think that, that's not as, I don't know, as annoying as certain things might be, you know, like you're still getting your original content for three-fourths of it. You'd be willing to get paid for that, wouldn't you? I'd do it, yeah. I'm in the gym, I don't care if part of the bottom banner is the company's logo, like,

fine, if I'm wearing their clothes or whatever, like, it's probably to some people that's more appealing than talking, you know? Yeah, like, I would think that's less intrusive than if you're, like, promoting something. If I'm like, hey, feel these stretchy shorts. These are the best workout shorts or if I'm just cool. Everyone's different, right? Some people gravitate to that. Some people want a cool song and a good workout and they'll buy from that, you know?

Yeah. But you could totally see that coming, dynamic ads on the story content itself. I could actually see them doing that and not sharing it. with you or I, like with the, you know, like, hey, you're using our platform for free. Your stories are going to have little banners on them. You can't really say much if they decided to do that. So maybe we need to create that first, Chris. We should sell that for vibe science.

Every little placement you can get your banner on there. Look, hey, Chris and I run multiple business. We're brainstormed business here on the show. That is real no BS business talk. I like it. a little logo placement anywhere on Ryan or Chris's feeds. Hit me up. Yeah, exactly.

Got all kinds of new brands. And I'm serious. Hey, look, Chris and I are as raw and real as a guest. We're in multiple companies. Chris has one of the most amazing tech combined with doctors and laboratories. He's got it all. And look, we do multiple shows. So again, we'd love to partner with you on any of our programming.

So keep that in mind. The other things, New York Times lifestyle monetization, spotlighted non-news verticals like games, cooking, and sports to attract ad dollars. New York Times games boast daily users surpassing White Lotus finale viewership. Whatever that means. I mean, I know what White Lotus is, the show. It's just a weird way to compare numbers. I know.

I'm like, to make it like sound big, but without actually stating any numbers. That's what I'm thinking. Everyone's like, why Lotus, we know that. Must have been big. Yeah, must have been big. This sounds like a way that New York Times just want to get in this ad, but I'm not really hearing much innovation. So, yeah, AI-driven ad planning everywhere.

Signals a shift towards faster, smarter campaign execution. Yes, hopefully. We'll say about that. So lots of digital fronts, I mean, related to that, I'm going to get to this because it's kind of, it's semi-related. We're talking platforms and things. ESPN officially announced this new flagship string service simply named ESPN. I like it, man.

I like it. It kind of rolls, you know? They're full working. They're like, hey, TV's dead. This is the new SPN. Let's not confuse people. Yeah. Okay.

How many times is HBO Plus rename themselves? I don't even know what it's called now. It was like HBO Go, HBO Plus. Yep. They had been calling themselves the new flagship. So now it's, there's power in our name and there's trust in our name. Yeah, you didn't need to change it.

It's the sports network. Yeah. We get it. There's going to be two subscription tiers, unlimited plan, $2,99 a month, or $45.99 bundled with Disney Plus and Hulu. Select plan is $1199.

It's mirroring the current ESPN Plus content, so less content. But, Chris, this is the future, you know, cable is slowly like you know the the the wicked witch from the east is it the west of the east I can't remember the west the west the wicked witch from the west I'm melting I'm melting this is cable like the swan song is violence playing like literally because you start stripping out the content that you want from cable because cable's built on 400 channels 390 you don't watch

and now these streaming platforms apps, whatever you want to call it, where you watch the content and you beam it where you want, where it's your TV, your phone, your tablet, and this is where it's going, and all of ESSPAN continents will be there.

It's coming fast. And I'm here for it, though I'm not sure it's going to be as cheap as cable as, you know, once you add up the five things you want, you're paying $200 probably. Yeah. But just like Spirit Airlines.

For the seatbelt, we've got $54. You might want to get that one. We'd recommend the seatbelt. Yeah. Ends of being the same at the end of the day that you would have been United Airlines or whatever else you fly, you know. $14.99 for the oxygen mask. It's rare that you would need it.

But if you do, you might want to plan ahead. It's coming to that, you know? Like literally in the middle of like a diving plane, it's going to be a button where You have to put your fingerprint to charge your credit card for an air mask or something. Flotation device. 1499. I'm dying. Got to get it.

Yeah. Hey, got to charge for that shit, you know? You know, hate the player, hate the game. Increased college football and NFL games will be on the platform. The move positions Disney, which owns ESPN to compete with Netflix, prom sports, and Max in the sports streaming space. comes as Disney adapts to cord-cutting trends impacting traditional TV. Yeah, it is. Cord-cutting.

I haven't heard that in a while. A cord cut a long time ago. Ambillical cord. You can now book a chef or personal trader while traveling with Airbnb. I like this. Sounds boogie. Airbnb has redesigned its app to further its goal of becoming an end-to-end travel app. The redesign introduces a new Airbnb services section where users can book chefs,

personal trainers, masseuses, photographers, hair and makeup artists and clowns. I made up that last one, but... I'm sure it will be on there. You know, anything you want, anything at all here on the Airbnb app. I'm the voice. The Air of the UVE services app. Services are available in 10 categories. We'll launch in 100 cities.

The move could better compete with hotels and all their traveling platforms like a speed. I mean, this is a no-brainer, right? I mean, yes. Natural fit, totally integrated in with your experience. I want a personal, you know, chef that does turn down service and feeds me bonbons. He leaves them on the pillow for you. Yeah, exactly. I want those mints on my pillow at night.

Said they've had slower booking growth this month at Airbnb. It's dealt with lawsuits and government restrictions. Stocks down 10% every year every year. Well, maybe this would give them a little pep in their step. Got to add-ons. I need that masseuse. I need that chef. Yeah.

Hopefully affordable. Makes sense. I could see it. I mean, buddy last week told me Airbnb at a house on the beach. and he wanted, he literally was talking about wanting a chef so I could see people take use of this. I'm still more of a hotel guy myself. Yeah, a lot of convenience for the hotel. But I will say, doing themed, like, you know, adding a little, hey, coming down for a party.

Well, okay, we got your dinner. We're going to do your birthday cake, like everything to do for whatever that event or the reason. I mean, people travel usually for a reason. I mean, if it's a business trip, fine. Then have business like, okay, a massage. when you get in from your airplane travel, then have themed specific outings and tie the services to that.

So hopefully they're going to think through all that. Pope Leo trading card sets tops an hour's record. We had a Pope trading card. It's a little foreshadowing to, if you're watching the YouTube, which you should be, you see the plethora of trading card paraphernalia and otherwise here on the set. right about now and these lovely has from Ludix.

Brian Ludden, Lodick, Synthos, great guy, great app. We'll talk about that in a minute. But Pope Leo sold 133,000 copies of a trading card that they printed kind of on-demand, I think, with Tops Now. I mean, I guess there is a trading card for everything. I actually have my own personal trading card, Chris, right there.

You probably can't quite see that, but it's... You got to assume. on that. The downtown. But the Pope. I don't know if I want a Pope trading card, but I'm not Catholic either, so I don't know. It's, but not surprising.

It's more pointing to the trend that we all know that people like those collectibles. They like the physical nature of it. Yes, tangible. I like that name. I like the word tangible. It's tangible. Exactly. You can feel like.

You can count it. You can smell it. They've got a white smoke variant is the most expensive one. It's sold for $195. They got some of many variants of these things. The leaf trading cards also released Pope Leo cards at $9.99 with themed backgrounds. This is interesting, Chris. Here's the theme backgrounds for the Pope Leo cards. deep dish pizza

Chicago hot dog snow and skyline views Oh Chicago of them What's that? So Chicago of them I know So yeah

Nothing like the Pope With a deep dish pizza background I'm in Hey there's a collectible for everyone That's the one thing you're going to get Out of this series There's a trading card for everyone

Finally today Apple to support brain implant control of its devices. Apple is entering the brain computer interface space, aiming to let users control iPhones and other devices using neural signals. The tech could transform accessibility for people with spinal cord injuries or ALS who cannot use their hands. Apple is prepared for a future where FDA-approved implants like Elon Musk, Neurrelink,

or others become widely available. I mean, this is cool and it's crazy. I have a hard time believing that we aren't going to somehow heal quadriplegages or something with this. If we can get the brain, you know, like a chip telling the brain what to do, it's going to be hard. It's hard not to fathom that that will come one day. I think it's going to come in the next five years. Yeah, it seems like we're right on the precipice of it.

And this is where, you know, like lover, hey, Elon Musk, he's right in the system. of a lot of key things, going to space, this next frontier, which is space, neuralink, the brain connection to healing and doing these different things, electric cars and batteries that have gotten better. And again, he's there right in the middle of it all. And he's over in Saudi Arabia selling robots. Optimus Prime. Yeah. It's so funny. He absolutely grew up. up like when I did in the age I did. He used all these terms that are kind of like quasi back in the day.

The Transformers, Optimus. Optimus Robot. It's not coming for any jobs. Yeah, never, right. And you got the taxi driving around. You saw them again this week, didn't you? They're everywhere. Like, I probably see 10 a day.

They're self-driving, right? No, they're rolling around with guys in them with laptops. Like, they're still probably working out the kinks, you know, before they. I bet, well, they're probably remote control. it from right there or it might be they're in the car sitting because i've seen like i've been watching my dog and there's sensors all over it and it's almost like when i've kind of been close to the road i can almost see it like break but it's not like it's a human it's like a very awkward like subtle you know jerky movement kind of yep but yeah man they're everywhere

bro the robots are coming yeah they're coming i'll tell you what i'll tell you what's coming next week starting on Tuesday. The trading card series is here. Our first guest, Brian Ludden, he is the CEO of Ludex, the best app for scanning your card, getting the values, and keeping up with your collection. Go check that on the app store. We've got the goodies here. We've got a big lineup. Gary Vee's coming on next week. He's going to be part of the series talking about V friends. The Gary Vee. Yes, we got the biggest seller retailer in South Carolina coming on, my friend. Maddie Rich. And then we've got Jeremy Eisenberg, who is an SI contributor and just a sports guru,

marketing badass, and some heavy hitters, some Netflix special guys. We've got some big names coming. They all want to get in on this trading card series because once you're in, it's hard to get out and start get that packed fever, man. We got it right here, all this stuff. We're going to do some giveaways. We're going to have fun. And again, got the rad collective started. Breakingrad.com. Go check that out. got all of my kids stuff, all of their cards. We're going to be on ESPN, not ESPN, excuse me, eBay live in about 30 days doing breaks and different things like that. So it's going to be a fun series.

It's the business is legit. It's $59 billion industry by 2027, 59 billion. This is serious business. Serious business. And again, the Pope's got to. trading card, you know, then you need a trading card. Everybody should have their own trading card, Chris. We're going to get the Hanson special.

Let's get it. One on one autograph. Vertical, white smoke, pizza dish, background. Do it. All the favorites. Chris, any final thoughts today? We're going to have a great weekend. Say, hydrated, it's getting hot out there.

Yeah, it is. It is getting hot. Getting hot in here. It's hot on the real American business show. right about now. Go to Ryanisright.com. Find the highlight clips. All the links to the trading card series. Highlights anything and everything that we talk about on the show is there. Ryan is right. Chris Broby Hanson is on Instagram. Go check it out. Motivational quotes, business tips, anything you need. Chris has got it for you. We appreciate him, as always, as a contributor to this show.

And we appreciate you for making us, number one. We'll see you next time. Right About Now. This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a radcast network. production. Visit Ryan isright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening. Warning, the following ZipRecruiter radio spot you are about to hear is going to be filled with F words. When you're hiring, we at ZipRecruiter know you can feel frustrated, forlorn even, like your efforts are futile, and you can spend a fortune trying to find fabulous people, only to get flooded with candidates who are just fine.

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